Chapter 5: The Lion and The Tiger
The sun rose slowly over the barren wastes of the Centra desert. Creeping up gently from behind mountains and hills, spilling gentle light on ground that had long stopped producing any kind of life at all. Slowly the beautiful light of dawn reached a small home that was set in the shadow of some of the continent's largest mountains, the shade of which provided welcome relief from the harsh mid-day and afternoon sun.
Amazingly slowly the dawn started to fill up a small room in the house, chasing away the shadows of night and leaving nothing but a beautiful brilliance in its place.
Inside the room three friends lay asleep, tired from the rigors and revelations of the days before and enjoying the pleasant rest that they took whenever they could. For the moment all three felt safe and secure, despite everything that had happened.
Squall woke up slowly, the harsh but soft light of day breaking through his eyelids, inexorably bringing him back to the land of the living.
He let out a soft groan, nothing loud, almost like the sound a child would make when it's mother shouted that it was time for school and the child's body wanted nothing more than another hours gentle rest.
After a few moments Squall realised that it would be impossible to got back to sleep. It was time to wake up. It was almost time to go home, just another day or two. The hope of seeing his girlfriend, no his fiancée filled his heart with hope. And yet…
Squall shook his head slightly trying to clear away the cobwebs that had been spun in there during the night. But even that couldn't shake the feeling that something was, off. He put the thought to the back of his mind, ignoring it for the moment. It was probably just because he was missing Rinoa; after all didn't couples that were apart miss each other?
Getting up slowly Squall looked over at his two friends, Seifer was sleeping soundly and snoring ever so slightly. Zell…
As Squall looked over at his best friend and second in command he smiled. Zell looked like an angel, innocent, sensitive and vulnerable. People of course knew the truth was quite different; Zell was like himself, a trained mercenary and a hired killer capable of defending himself in any way possible. Even so Squall still gazed at Zell and felt a deep sense of kinship with the sleeping blonde, something deeper than he would ever have thought possible 6 years ago.
Moving across the room, the warm wood floor pleasant on his feet Squall slowly and quietly took his clothes out of the drawer and left the room, heading down the corridor, past the entrance to the previously hidden workshop and entered the bathroom.
Just looking around the room Squall and his heightened instincts could tell that their host was already awake. A few towels were in a laundry basket and the shower floor was slightly wet from use earlier on.
Squall sighed gently, he didn't want to think about the enigma he and his friends had stumbled onto just yet because it was far too early in the morning.
After a quick shower he felt much better. Squall got dressed and combed his long brown locks, failing miserably to keep them out of his eyes. Squall's eyes lit up with mirth, controlling his hair was the one thing he just couldn't do, it just constantly fell back into his eyes.
Leaving the bathroom Squall made his way through the house towards the kitchen on the other side of the corridor to the bedroom he had come from. Stepping into the room, he noticed that the door to the patio was open and was blowing softly in a slight breeze. Curious and his hunger temporarily forgotten he looked outside.
On the smooth cold rock that formed the house's front stood Aidan, going gently through the very familiar Tai Chi exercises, his eyes closed and his mind totally focused on performing each movement accurately and precisely. Aidan flowed like water from move to move, gentle but deadly. He wore just a simple pair of sweats, showing off an elegent build, similar to that of a dancer, each muscle well trained and firm, not an ounce of fat on his frame. Several large scars, all precisely the same angle ran along his chest and down onto his stomach almost as if he had been repeatedly slashed with some sharp object. The scar along the middle was deepest, but all three ran diagonally across his body.
Just looking at him Squall instinctively knew he was looking at a SeeD. His body was similar, if a little more honed than the other mans, but still Aidan bore the invisible mark of someone who had been training for dangers that he would be thrown into, if he survived the rigorous tests put on him by teachers and instructors alike.
Squall leaned against the frame of the door, watching for a moment Aidan's exercises. Tai Chi wasn't really Squall's thing, although they did have a class for it back in Balamb. Apparently it helped loosen the mind and control the body, unfortunately he'd never got anything out of it the few times he'd tried.
Zell on the other hand was a different story, every morning without fail he'd exercise. Squall knew this for a fact because he'd seen him do it a couple of times. It was, to say the very least hypnotic. Squall could never resist watching the young martial artist stretch, move and rotate his body, making the muscles stand out and the elegent sinews become as hard as solid copper.
Breaking his mind away from thoughts of Zell, he turned his attention back to the man before him. He was elegant certainly in the way he moved, but it was the elegance of a man who was fighting for peace with himself, a sight Squall was familiar with after years of watching cadets grow up in a tough and harsh environment like Garden.
Aidan's movements became slower, more explicit and more controlled, smooth gestures and motions became more powerful as his morning exercise ended slowly.
After he'd finished Aidan was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, evidence of his workout. His breathing however was regular, not too deep as if he was in total control.
He turned around and was visibly surprised to see Squall standing by the door, but he recovered quickly.
"Leonhart" he greeted with a curt nod of his head.
Squall simply remained impassive, instead stepped forward slightly. However before he could utter a word a flock of birds past above them, their gentle chattering filling the space between the two men. He looked up at the disturbance and recognising the birds and as he slowly counted them; an old rhyme he'd been taught by Edea at the orphanage emerged from the holes in his memory.
"One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver..." he intoned softly.
"Six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told. Eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, ten for a moment of perfect bliss." Aidan finished, saying the words almost reverently and slowly like they were part of a life long ago.
The two men made eye contact and in that moment Squall realised what he'd been missing.
"You were at the orphanage,' he stated, allowing no room for question, 'you're like us, one of Matron's children."
Aidan smiled. It was a soft smile, the smile of a man who was lost in his memories.
He uttered a simple "Yes." Then made to move past Squall and back into the house. Squall, however stopped him and pushed him back slightly, he was annoyed.
"Why didn't you tell us before, why didn't you tell us the truth?"
"Would you have believed me if I had?' he retorted, a pained look on his face, 'It was better that you just thought I was some mad hermit who'd shut himself off from the world."
"I'm still not sure that you're not." Squall quipped.
"Very funny Squall,' Aidan murmured, 'but you've changed. You used to be a stoic asshole that never had any words or jokes for anyone. Now you're almost normal, what happened?"
"I met my fiancée, she helped bring me out of my shell. I owe her a lot, so I protect her." Was Squall's simple, but rational reply.
"Oh' said Aidan, a sarcastic tone in his voice, 'Rinoa wasn't it?"
"That's right"
"Isn't she a Sorceress?"
"The Sorceress, yes." Why did I just say THE sorceress? Thought Squall. Isn't Matron a sorceress as well? For all we know there could be more of them out there. His head started to pound again as it had been doing frequently over the last day or two, ever since he arrived here. Just a headache, just a headache Squall repeated to himself.
Aidan seemed to notice Squall's sudden confusion, but ignored it. However Squall was eager for information about the other man.
"How can you remember all this and we can't? If you're SeeD then surely you used the guardians as well."
Aidan paused for a moment to consider his response.
"I did' he confirmed, choosing his words carefully as the warming air gently dried the sweat off his lean body, 'I stopped using them after the war. I didn't want to forget."
"But even so, your mind must still be like Trabian Cheese, full of holes." Replied Squall
"No.' stated Aidan flatly, 'the GFs don't eat memories and they don't simply destroy them, they just re-arrange our minds to slowly eradicate our identities."
Squall was appalled. That was impossible; everything that Doctor Odine had created, everything that SeeD had used was done to destroy identities?
"But why?"
On this question Aidan remained silent, and a heavy silence fell between the two men it's bleakness contrasted heavily with the day's dawn that was now getting bright and brighter. Squall looked at Aidan, but the other man refused to make eye contact, and finally uttered a simple reply.
"I've no idea."
Squall decided to change the topic of conversation to something more important.
"How did you get those scars? From Garden?" asked Squall as he rubbed his own old wound that Seifer had inflicted so long ago.
"Nope, I was in the cathedral that Ultimecia had put in the middle of her castle. There was this pink haze there. I thought I saw something just past it, so I stepped into it and suddenly this bell rang out and next thing I know there's this huge, evil looking monster in front of me. Dumb ass that I am I decided to fight, I barely got even a hit in when it slashed me with a claw and sword. I guess I was knocked out, next thing I know I…' Aidan faltered and for a split second Squall could have sworn he saw a tear in the corner of the other's eye, 'I was back in normal time."
Squall realised instantly what had happened, his team had rung the church bell to release the OMEGA weapon, but hadn't fought it. It was only when they had worked out what it was for that Squall, Zell and Rinoa had fought and destroyed the ultimate monster. He had nearly killed a man he didn't even know was there, a man who had now saved their lives. Squall kept silent at this, not knowing what to say.
"What about the guns?" he asked. He was still curious about the guns that Zell and himself had found in Aidan's room, those had yet to be explained.
"How did you…' began Aidan, then realisation dawned and a smirk graced his lips, "Of course, you must have found them when you went through my things." He paused, collecting his thoughts, 'the guns belong. Belonged,' he corrected himself, 'to my late wife Katrina."
Squall's jaw almost dropped, but his face still retained the time-honoured stoicism he had taken so long to develop. This man had been married? But what…
"She was killed in the attack on Trabia.' Aidan continued, anticipating the obvious question, 'that's why I went after Seifer and wanted him dead. Not because I thought he was a traitor, not because I remembered him from Balamb Garden, but because he killed my wife, the only family I'd ever known."
"And that was why you isolated yourself here?"
"Sort of, I wanted to remember her. There's an old saying that a person is the sum of his memories. I wanted to be more than the sum of my parts." Aidan's head dropped slightly, his brown eyes slightly glazed.
Squall suddenly found himself understanding this man, his motives and his reasons. After all wouldn't he do the same if something happened to his friends? Wouldn't he do the same if something happened to Rinoa, or Zell? Why the thoughts of Zell again? Wondered Squall mentally. What's the matter with me?
Reaching out Squall put his hand on his shoulder.
"I understand." He said softly.
Aidan backed away suddenly at the gentle touch as if burned. He looked up sharply and met Squall's grey eyes.
Squall also took a step back, something was still wrong, but what? Hadn't he done that to Zell dozens of times, helped his best friend out of troubles. Had he got used to Zell relaxing at his touch? Again his head started to throb. 'Damn headaches' he thought, 'must focus, must focus'.
"I want you to come back with us." Stated Squall, his words instantly breaking the fragile bubble that neither man had noticed around them.
"No"
"Fine,' replied Squall, 'then I order you to."
Aidan laughed, a slow mocking laugh that was almost an exact imitation of Seifer's, a laugh that had no depth and no humour to it.
"I don't take orders from you Leonhart, I don't take orders from anyone. Not anymore."
"I can't let you stay here. The stolen technology needs to be returned and you could have valuable information to benefit SeeD." Said Squall, attempting to reason with the man in front of him.
"I'm my own man now Squall,' Aidan retorted, 'I'm happy here, away from trouble. I can be myself, something that I never could be before and I can't change who I am."
"Whatever,' replied Squall,'but to me it just sounds like you're running away from who you are. We're SeeD, we always will be and nothing can change that. You're just afraid. You're right, none of us can change who we are, but we can refuse to face ourselves, which is exactly what you're doing."
Squall simply turned away, heading back into the house. The 'Rok needed repairing as soon as possible, and as soon as Zell, Seifer and himself got away from this place the better.
Aidan stood for a few moments longer, the sun gently warming his back when he heard another flock of birds pass overhead. Looking up he repeated the old words that his Matron had taught him.
"Seven for a secret never to be told."
After the flock had passed over Aidan went back into his home. His secret, the one that no one knew and that he scarcely admitted to himself would remain his own. Aidan shook his head slightly to clear his mind and focus his thoughts; there was work to do.
After a fairly uneventful breakfast the four men headed out into the desert to carry on repairs to the damaged craft. It was the first time that Squall had seen the pride and joy of Balamb since the attack that left them stranded and he braced himself for the worse.
Squall, following the others over the brow of a small dune, very nearly gasped when he saw the sight that lay before him.
The pride and joy of Balamb Garden lay in a deep trench that Squall could remember clambering out of a few days before. However neither he, nor his friends had seen the full extent of the damage. Pieces of electrical equipment were scattered all over the trench, as well as further away. The hull was mostly intact, with a few holes here and there that were being repaired slowly.
Squall breathed a small sigh of relief; at least the auto-repair function was still active because otherwise they could have been really fucked. However he was wondering which could kill him first, one of the Dragon things that first attacked them, or the army of Garden and Military accountants when they would see the damage that had been done to the SeeD flagship.
Steadily, with Squall now in the lead, the foursome made their way down into the furrow carved by the now inoperative 'Rok. Entering his nine-digit access code Zell disabled the defence systems and stepped through into the ship.
"What's still to be done?" Squall asked, looking around at the torn out components and smashed screens, wondering how in the hell they were ever going to get the ship off the ground.
Surprisingly Seifer was the one to reply. "The auto guidance system is currently lying in several thousand tiny pieces outside lover. We started repairing manual control yesterday, but we hit a few snags." Seifer strode over to one of the nearby water machines and grabbed a bottle; thankfully it was still cool which indicated there was nothing wrong with the power.
After he took a nice relaxing hit, he threw the bottle to Zell who caught it and got soaked. Seifer had left the cap on the bottle loose and now sported a smirk on his face.
"Oops" he said sarcastically, half expecting to see steam rising from Zell judging by the colour he had turned.
Squall threw a vicious looking glance at the two blondes, but not before noticing how cute Zell looked when he was mad. Aidan picked up on Seifer's explanation.
"The MGS or Manual Guidance System relies on seven main inputs from the power cells…" He began.
Squall interrupted testily, "I know how it works, I pilot the fucking thing. What I want to know is what's wrong?"
"Three of the seven connections are broken, here, here and here," he said, pointing at a small holographic tablet that was part of the 'Rok's internal communications system, "We don't know why. All three connections check fine and so does the connection from the main power grid to the station that these are tied into."
"Fine,' said Squall looking over the schematic with a critical eye, 'what else needs to be done?"
"Other than that, not much." Chipped in Zell, irritated at Seifer as he dripped onto the floor slowly, 'some work needs to be done on the anti-grav generator and the engine casings, but the MGS is the main thing."
Squall instantly slipped into commander mode. "Zell, you and Aidan get on the electrics, after all you're the best ones for it. Seifer and myself will repair the generator and the casings."
Where did that come from? Thought Squall as Seifer and Zell practically snapped to attention, whereas Aidan simply stood there, his hands in his pockets. Zell walked off towards the bridge and the main electrical systems with Aidan following him, still holding the wiring diagram he had shown Squall.
"Aidan,' Squall called, 'the main fault looks as if it's in section 3, junction 9. Those other connections are backed up from there, look there."
Aidan turned to face Squall and looked down at his pad. A strange look passed over his face only for a second and then was gone, if Squall had to guess he would have said it looked liked jealousy.
After the brief, but interesting look that Squall had been given, he turned around and faced Seifer who had a lecherous grin plastered on his face.
"Coming Princess?" he teased, in his usual manner.
"Whatever" mumbled Squall, he was lost in thought. There were questions that needed answering and only Seifer would be able to answer, even if he had to beat the facts out of him.
Squall allowed himself a little smirk at this thought and this didn't go un-noticed by Seifer.
"For Hyne's sake Squall don't smile, I don't want the world to end before I get back to Balamb."
With that last sarcastic barb out of the way Seifer strode elegantly down into the bowels of the ship, followed soon after by Squall who, had Seifer turned around, would have seen a deeply pensive and determined look on his face.