Chapter 3: Fire & Ice

'Squall,' thought Zell, still behind the door, 'die? That's impossible!'

Zell shook his head as if to try and get rid of the thought.

'So this character is an old flame of Squalls, he lives in the middle of nowhere and saved our lives,' Zell mused, 'and if Squall doesn't get medical attention soon, he'll die. Hyne! What are we going to do?'

Realising there was nothing he could do stuck listening in on the conversation, Zell decided to go back into the room and pretend as if he hadn't heard a thing, just to wait and see what the others would tell him.

'After all,' Zell thought, 'You never get the full story if you eavesdrop.'

Zell pushed open the door and stepped into the room.

"Hey guys,' he said, and after a brief pause added; 'how's Squall doing?"

The others turned round and looked at him.

"Not good Zell, but he's stable for the moment." Replied Aidan, looking him in the eye.

"When's he gonna wake up?" Zell asked.

"I'm not sure, I'm concerned though, so I need to check a few things."

"It could be anytime though chickie." Seifer added.

Zell looked down at his unconscious friend, concern in his eyes. 'Tests?' he thought 'but then, where's the equipment?' Zell looked around the room again, and seeing nothing technological, asked the obvious question:

"How are you going to perform all these tests without any equipment?"

Aidan looked at Zell and smirked.

"I have my ways Dincht." He replied.

"So what are we going to do about Squall?" Asked Seifer.

"Well that's obvious,' said Zell, 'we need to get him back to garden, or at least to hospital as soon as possible."

"Oh? And how do you think we're going to do that?" Aidan shot back.

"Well we can't be too far from a hospital or a town, even with the 'Rok damaged."

"Not a chance Dincht, we're about 3 weeks chocobo ride from the nearest town, not to mention mountains and valleys in-between us"

"Then how do you get food and water?" Seifer questioned.

"Water's not a problem Seif,' replied Aidan, 'It's everywhere, you just need to find it. When I first got here I found an underground stream, so the water here is completely pure. As for food, I grow my own, it's not the best, but it keeps me going. As for meat, one large freezer is more than enough for me."

"Hyne above!' cried Zell, 'you mean we're miles from civilisation, with no way to help Squall?"

"Looks like it chickie" said Seifer.

"I never said that Seif,' interrupted Aidan, 'I can help Squall and until we've fixed the 'Rok, you can stay here, besides, if you even tried to cross Centra from here, you'd be eaten alive before the day's out, think you can take a group of those dragons?"

"Looks like it's impossible now anyway." Said Zell, looking out of the window at the rapidly approaching night.

"Then that's settled, you three stay here with me until the 'Rok is repaired. I'll do my best to help Squall, but until then,' Aidan said with a grin on his face, 'looks like you're stuck with me."

They hadn't been completely straight with him, but Zell didn't mind, at least they hadn't barefaced lied to him. He was still worried about Squall, but something told him that Aidan would do all he could to help.

Until then, how the hell was he supposed to know how to fix a salad?

Seifer and Zell were in the kitchen of Aidan's home, sent off there and told to fix something for dinner while Aidan tended as best he could to Squall, who was still unconscious.

"C'mon chickie, can't you toss a salad?" teased Seifer.

"Hey, I don't see you doin much better with those burgers,' replied Zell, 'and at least I know how to use an oven!"

"You don't really rely on your own cookery skills while you're eating in bars and fast food restaurants chickie,' Seifer shoot back, not missing a beat, 'besides, watching you 'toss' is fun." He added with another lecherous grin.

Zell wasn't happy about that and made his feelings known to Seifer by hurling a tomato at his head, which Seifer dodged.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"How can you stand around there making jokes when Squall's seriously injured?' Zell burst out, 'he's saved us all more times than we can count and we're leaving him in the care of somebody we don't even know!"

Seifer stood, stunned, looking almost comical with a platter of burgers in his hands. His eyes betrayed an inner conflict. What could he say to that? Zell was his friend and he couldn't lie to him, could he?

"Zell,' Seifer began, 'I know Aidan and I know we can trust him. He'll help Squall, trust me."

Zell was aghast, as he looked deep into Seifer's crystal sea-green eyes he could see no trace of a lie and perhaps, more to the point, Seifer had called him Zell, something that he could never remember Seifer doing. He was confused, but Seifer had asked for trust, no not trust, faith. Could he give that?

Zell paused, his whole expression pensive, "Alright Seif, I believe you."

Seifer was relieved; he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and a familiar smirk spread over his face. "Thanks chickie."

Zell's face fell when he heard the familiar taunt, but recognised that it wasn't said out of malice, but simply because Seif couldn't call him anything else. Zell smiled, with a glint of mischief in his eye and then looking Seifer in the eye said; "No problem Seif." And then threw another tomato at him, this one hitting his square on the forehead making a very satisfying mess. Yet as he did one question went through his mind; 'What was wrong with Squall?'

In a locked room near to where Squall lay there was a technological wonderland. Computers, terminals and a large chemistry set-up adorned the room, with printouts and other electronic paraphernalia on the tables. A small three-dimensional hologram was projected, showing a sample of Squall's blood.

Computers whirred and hummed around Aidan as he sat, hunched over a terminal. At present Squall's blood sample was being analysed by one of the famous Doctor Odine's machines that he had 'acquired' over several trips to Esthar while he had been setting up his home here. All of the machines in the room were either his own creation, or were made of components he had salvaged from junk shops or from a few, seldom made trips, to Esthar and other places around the planet.

He was concerned about the results, but knew deep down that they would come back negative; all he was doing was waiting.

When he had seen the 'Rok crash land only a few minutes away from his home he knew that the past had finally caught up to him. He'd recognised the Ragnarok instantly of course, it was one of the most famous ships on the planet, he just didn't know who was on board. That was until he got to the crash site and saw them, lain on the ground and about to be eaten by a Dragon, that he was only just able to scare off, nothing on the planet could kill one of those things, let alone him.

Aidan sighed, deeply.

He was different now, not a warrior anymore, the only reason he had been able to help them was because he had stopped using the junctions. Squall had always been twice the man he was and always would be, whether he had the guardians or not. He knew the truth, but he couldn't interfere.

The computer beeped signalling the end of the tests, pulling Aidan out from his thoughts. He touched the screen and the results flitted across, telling him what he already knew.

Squall was fine.

'The removal of all his guardians must have stopped the poison finally,' he thought, 'but what about those other readings?' He scrolled further down the screens, taking in every bit of information.

"Nothing." He muttered under his breath. Was it possible he was wrong?

Squall's vital signs had dived only a few moments ago, as if something was boosting him beyond what was normal, but now it had gone, was that even possible?

Aidan knew how the poison reacted, better than anyone alive. Maybe this was just some kind of side effect that he hadn't seen before. Whatever it was, it was gone and Squall was just sleeping deeply. He'd probably wake up sometime tomorrow and then they could get repairing the 'Rok.

Thankfully the Ragnarok was equipped with an auto-repair facility which should take care of the external damage, but if there was something wrong with the electronics….

He sighed again, they'd take care of that later, if needs be.

He stood up from the terminal, feeling the familiar pangs of hunger in his stomach, hopefully Zell and Seifer will have fixed up dinner. As he walked towards the door he passed a large locker, set into the rock and spared it a passing glance. His expression changed growing darker and his hand touched the pendant that was around his neck.

'No,' he thought, 'Never again. NEVER again'

And a split second later his expression was back to normal, his hand back at his side and he walked through the door, heading toward the kitchen. The sun was setting on the horizon and he was hungry. He was tired as well, perhaps tomorrow would bring better luck.

The midday sun beamed through the window near to the bed where Squall lay, sending shadows into only the corners of the room. Squall's chest rose and fell with regularity and beneath his eyelids his eyes were fiercely alive as he dreamed.

He looked almost peaceful and a faint smile graced his elegent lips, as if he was enjoying a pleasant dream and never wanted to wake. He was serine, his head lay back against the pillow and his hair spilled onto and away from his face.

He was in a field, lush and green with vegetation and flowers. The sun was beating down on him and the sky was a crystal clear blue, not a cloud was visible and there was a very slight breeze, almost impossible to feel, but it was there.

"Squall,' said a voice from behind him, 'it's ready"

Squall turned and saw, crouched on the grass, was Rinoa. She had laid out a red and white checked sheet with food, a picnic. Squall smiled as he looked at his love.

'Perfect' he thought, his heart filled with warmth and love for Rinoa.

He set off towards her when he noticed that something was wrong. Everything around him was wrong. The paradisiacal scene shifted and swirled around him, fading in and out.

Squall twisted around in panic, wondering what was happening when he felt someone touch him on the shoulder and turn him towards them. As he turned he saw, not the face of his fiancée, but rather some grotesque creature, the only similarity was that they had dressed the same and their eyes had the same warmth to them.

The face that Squall knew as his love's had almost melted away like a bizarre wax sculpture, and the image that was left was something hateful. Something that Squall wanted to fight and kill, something not entirely human, but for some reason he couldn't move, as if the creature had some hold on him.

"Squall?' the monstrosity uttered in Rinoa's sweet tones, 'what's wrong?"

Suddenly the creature's eyes changed from the sweet brown of Rinoa to a perverted green-blue, which was not limited to the irises alone, but filled the eyes entirely and then started to glow.

Suddenly the image disappeared all that was left was a sharp pain on the side of his head. He opened his eyes, immediately closing them again after looking directly into the bright light of the sun. He twisted to one side and hit his forehead. Groaning he opened his eyes more carefully this time and felt a lump on the left side of his head,

'Must have fallen out of bed,' he thought, 'Hyne, what a nightmare.'

The door to the room burst open and Zell practically fell in. He looked a shambles, covered with sweat and his face stained with oil and grease.

"What the hell's goin on?" Zell cried.

He looked straight at Squall and did a double take.

"Squall? You're up!

Squall just groaned again and put his hand to his head, his fingers gently running over the old scar that Seifer had left him with, the familiar texture of the forever-puckered skin comforting him like it always did.

"Whats the matter?' Zell asked, pouring concern into his voice, 'what happened?"

"I fell out of bed, I…." Squall tailed off.

"What?"

"I had a bad dream."

Zell's face held a measure of surprise, almost alarm, but it only lasted for a split second.

Squall has nightmares? He thought how can he? He's …. Perfect

"It's ok Squall, dreams are just dreams, there's nothing real about them."

Squall paused for a moment. "I guess." Then why did it feel so real? Hyne Rin, I miss you, I hope that you're ok.

Squall returned to the real world to find Zell kneeling down with his hands on Squall's shoulders, their faces only inches apart. It felt strange, but in a good way, comforting. Secure. Safe.

"You ok Squall? You zoned out for a bit there."

"Yeah I'm fine Zell." Squall replied, managing a thin smile that, for some reason felt natural. He took a deep breath and the scent of oil, grease and dirt filled his senses, causing him to pull away from Zell.

"Dear Hyne what have you been doing?' Squall exclaimed 'you smell like you've been taking a bath in Grat shit".

Zell got back onto his feet, pulling Squall up with him.

"Sorry, we've been out all day fixing the 'Rok. The damage wasn't that bad, the ships repaired most of it, just a few electrics that need fixin" Stated Zell, unable to take his eyes off Squall.

Squall wanted to shrug off Zell's hands, but couldn't bring himself to do it, it just felt so….right.

He allowed his tone of voice to frost over, trying to bring the conversation back to business and not to the thought of Zell's arms placed lightly on his shoulders.

"How long before we can leave?" Asked Squall, gently removing himself from Zell.

Zell took a small step back; almost unaware he was doing so, but even so his eyes never left that comforting grey of Squall's.

"Dunno, another couple of days, not long.' Replied Zell, 'but now you're up we'll be out of here soon." He added with a smirk.

Squall breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Hyne. I didn't want to be stuck here for long, there's something about Aidan I don't like. He's not telling us something."

"I think you're right Squall, we ain't getting the whole story. What's he doing here for a start?"

"Where are Seif and Aidan?" Squall asked.

"There're still out at the 'Rok, bout an hours walk away, I came back cause I was hungry and Aidan said he had some hot dogs back here.

Squall's face slipped from its normal stoic mode into a pensive one and a slow smirk spread over the brunette's elegent face.

Zell's eyes lit up and a mischievous smile appeared on his lips.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Squall asked.

"Snoop around a bit?" Zell replied, his smile imitating the one that Squall had on.

"Give me a second, I want to get changed first." Said Squall, gesturing down at the simple gown that he still had on from the day before.

Zell glanced down at Squall's body, quickly pulling his eyes back up realising what he was doing.

Squall on the other hand, felt flattered albeit uncomfortable at Zell's accidental attention.

"I won't be a second." Said Squall.

A few minutes later Squall was back in his original trademark clothes with his gunblade in it's usual position. In the past Zell had asked Squall why he always had it on, but Squall's reply was just simply "I never feel dressed without it" and Zell left it at that.

Zell and Squall tried each one of the doors in the small home, but only found the kitchen, bathroom, a small library containing a few history books and old papers before finally finding a very odd room that just had a comfortable chair in it, positioned next to a large window.

"How long has this place been here?" Zell mused.

"Don't know,' replied Squall, 'but I don't remember seeing it when we were ever flying over Centra, so I'd say it must have been in the last few years."

"I guess,' the expression on Zell's face became thoughtful as they opened another door, one that just opened onto a storeroom, 'but Seif said he knew him, so does that mean that Seif spent some time here? Or does it mean that he knew him during the war?"

Zell quickly remembered the conversation he had heard earlier the other day, mulling over it in his mind. Should he tell Squall? No, it's not his place, besides the answer was obvious. Aidan must have known Squall and Seifer in the past and for some reason Zell couldn't get Edea's orphanage out of his mind.

"Maybe' said Squall, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, 'but there could be other explanations."

Zell and Squall opened yet another door and had at last found something useful, a large room that contained a small desk, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers.

Stepping into the room Squall and Zell headed for different parts of the room and started their search, careful to put everything back where they'd found it after checking it completely, they were after all mercenaries and highly trained in surveillance operations.

"Zell, over here." Squall whispered urgently.

Zell closed the drawer he was looking in and headed over to Squall, who was checking out the wardrobe to see what he had found.

Squall had in his hand a small case made from mahogany and was a gorgeous dark red. The box was inlaid with black wood that seemed to sparkle. In Squall's hands the box was light and warm, but something about it that unsettled him. On the top of the box there was a monogram that read "K.R.T"

"K.R.T? Who's that?" wondered Squall.

"Dunno,' was Zell's instant reply, 'lets open it up!"

The small case had a clasp set into the wood and so, undoing it, Squall opened up the case. Inside were two pistols resting on red velvet. They were elegent pieces of art with gleaming mother of pearl handles and shimmering onyx barrels that were only highlighted by faint streaks of silver running along them. Just looking at them Squall felt his breath taken away, they were deadly and beautiful.

"Wow,' was Zell's reaction, 'what are they?"

"They're called Cloisters, the name's written just here, but who do they belong to? Aidan uses a blade, so they're not his."

"Lets carry on looking, maybe we can find out more" said Zell, eager to resume looking, his natural curiosity only whetted by what they had found.

"How come I can't hear Shiva in my mind anymore Zell?" Squall asked, having become so accustomed to having the ice princess in his mind he was naturally curious as to why he couldn't sense her usual cold self.

"Aidan removed all our Guardian Forces, he…"

Zell never had time to finish his sentence before Squall interjected, his voice filled with horror.

"What! Why in Hyne's name did he do that? He's left us defenceless!"

Once again, in a split second Zell was at his side, reassuring Squall. It was strange, he thought, that only a few short years ago the ice prince would never have shown his feelings like that and now, although such eruptions were rare, they did happen, although only in times of stress when he was away from Rinoa.

"It's ok, if he hadn't taken them out of our minds we would have died, something about the poison we were infected with feeding on them." Zell's voice was the very epitome of calm and relaxing, almost as if he was talking to a distraught child. Which was a reasonable statement, Squall had been using the guardians almost forever, and they were a part of him. Now he'd lost them it would be like a part of him had died and could never be brought back.

Instantly Squall froze over again, but his expression was a mixture of hurt and thought. Squall felt like he had been violated, the fact that a perfect stranger had just wandered into his mind was disturbing enough, but how could he have removed Shiva? They were almost one in the same, to Squall it just didn't make sense.

The sound of Zell's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"What's this?"

Squall got up and went over to Zell. He'd found a small key taped to the underside of one of the drawers.

"I haven't seen any locked doors round here." Squall observed.

"Then what's it a key for then?"

Squall had no reason for that logical argument. There was nothing they had found that had any kind of lock on it, not even the gun case he'd found. Squall knew there was something not right, that something was missing.

Pocketing the key Squall and Zell left the room having realised there was nothing else to be found there. Zell was disappointed, if Aidan had been there for so long, surely there would have been something else, a journal or anything. Instead there was simply nothing, except a key and a set of elegent guns.

"I think that's about it." Zell observed. They had seemingly covered the place from front to back and top to bottom and both were very irritated, they had gone in search of answers, but had found only more questions.

As they were walking back along the hallway Squall stopped abruptly.

"Squall?' Zell asked, wondering what he was going on, 'Whats up?"

"Here." Was Squalls cryptic reply. He was stopped just in the middle of the hall, there was nothing on the walls and nothing special about the….

Zell looked down.

The floor.

The floor where Squall was standing was slightly more worn and faded than the rest of it along the hallway. Realising this Zell started to look around the walls for anything at all and Squall did the same.

They weren't disappointed this time. Set into the rock almost invisible to the naked eye was a keyhole made to look like a natural fissure of the wall.

"Still got that key?" Squall enquired of Zell.

"Yeah, sure." Zell reached into his pocket, pulled out the key and passed it to Squall.

Squall took the key from Zell's hand, enjoying the soft skin of Zell's hand against his for a moment too long, then inserted it into hole. He twisted it and a section of the wall slid outwards with a sigh.

"Kinda unoriginal isn't it?" Said Zell.

Squall just simply smirked and stepped into the hidden room, follow closely by Zell, who was sporting a similar grin.

As it turned out the room wasn't a room at all, but rather a small hallway that was barely lit. There were cables coming out of the rock walls of all sizes. Some Zell recognised as data cables and electrical cables and they seemed to be leading deeper into the mountain. Following them for about 20 metres the pair came to a wooden door, again set into the rock. With a small glance at Zell, Squall pushed it open and stepped through.

They were both dazzled by the bright light around them and after a second so their eyes could adjust they looked around the room.

It was filled with machines, gadgets, gizmos and Hyne knows what else. Most of them bore the mark of Esthar and had been, by the looks of things jury rigged so as to be compatible with technology that looked like it had come out of places like Galbadia and even the Shumi village.

Squall was aghast. All this technology was obviously stolen.

"Bloody fucking hell,' was Zell's reaction to what they saw around them, 'what in the name of Hyne is this place? It's amazing!"

"It's a lab of some kind, but its got a mixture of stuff, chemistry' Squall pointed to a large set up on one table and a rack containing test-tubes, one of which was filled with a glowing green substance, 'biology,' Squall indicated a small holograph displaying what was obviously a blood sample, 'and computers.' He said gesturing finally to several computers set up around the place, all of which seemed to be on standby mode.

Both Squall and Zell knew a little about computer systems from Garden and both headed over to consoles. Zell activated his and found a screen which contained data on the 'Rok, including it's capabilities, model history, everything.

Squall on the other hand had found something far more disturbing. On his screen there was a series of live feeds. He recognised from his brief fight outside, the terrace and some of the rooms, but as he scrolled down he came to a small section of feeds and his blood turned cold.

"Zell,' he whispered, 'look at this."

Zell left his station and went over to Squall. As he looked over the brunette's shoulder he gasped in astonishment.

"That's….That's…."

"Garden." Finished Squall.

"But how?"

"I don't know Zell, but if the Garden Network has been compromised then we are all in very serious trouble. This isn't good. The more I see here, the less I like it."

"Hang on, does that mean we can contact them?"

"I doubt it Zell"

"Why?"

"This isn't a live feed. It's years old, you can tell by the time frame. But it's still showing in real-time and this is still a problem."

Zell's shoulders slumped in disappointment if the feed wasn't live then there was no guarantee of a direct connection to Balamb, or any other Garden. For all they knew this could simply be a 'best of' featurette that this freak was recording. He felt betrayed, again. They'd trusted Seifer. He'd trusted Seifer and he'd lied.

Squall's eyes were drawn back to the door and settled on a large metallic locker, set deep into the rock. The metal was thick, but possible to break. He gentle tapped Zell on the shoulder and pointed in the direction of the locker.

"Think you can break into that?"

"No prob" was Zells immediate response. He walked over to the locker and just as he was about to punch a hole in it stopped abruptly.

"Whats the matter?"

"Do you think we should Squall? I mean there could be Hyne knows what in here, dead bodies, mad experiments…" Zell allowed his voice to trail off. He wasn't scared, SeeDs didn't get scared, he was simply concerned.

"Yes there could, but I think we should take a look anyway. Besides, if there was anything alive in there we'd have heard it moving around."

"I guess." Said Zell, but still unsure. He took a deep breath, focused his energy and punched through the thick metal.

"Either that or it was sleeping and you've just woken it up." Squall added cruelly.

Zell's expression went from calm to disturbed to hysterical in a split second and as fast as he broke in he pulled his gloved fist out of the hole he'd just made, terrified he was about to lose his hand to some new, freakish kind of monster.

"You bastard,' he said, 'you're becoming more like Seifer every day, ya know that?"

Squall put his hands over his heart as if he'd been stabbed. "How could you say that?' he said, almost as if he was lamenting, 'Chicken." He finished with a smirk on his lips.

Zell wasn't happy, but didn't say anything. Squall was after all his superior, besides he needed a moment to come up with a witty retort.

Zell stepped away from the locker and Squall stepped forward by his friend's side. Zell reached forward and opened the door. It was stiff and creaked a great deal, almost as if it hadn't been opened in years. Never the less the door slowly came open and the bright light of the room shone into the previously sealed casket.

Squall and Zell recoiled in surprise.

"It's impossible." Zell exclaimed, looking at the contents of the locker.

"No it's not,' Squall said, his calm exterior belying his word, 'it sort of makes sense…"

"Find anything interesting?" A cold voice said from the doorway.

Zell and Squall turned, shocked and saw Aidan with his sword drawn and blood dipping from it's sharpened edge. Standing beside him was Seifer, his gunblade still in its holster; seemingly astonished by the room he had just entered. Both were lit up from the light shining down, casting menacing shadows behind them.