Chapter XII Another Journey
"So where are we going?" Selphie asked Squall as they all got into their seats in the Ragnorok.
"To see my dad," Squall replied.
"Laguna!" Zell exclaimed, "How can he help us?"
"Did you forget? He is the president of Esthar. He will be able to find out where the memorial for Mira was at."
"Oh yeah!" Zell and Selphie said at once. They started up the Ragnorok and headed toward the huge city of Esthar.
"Ha ha ha…" Squall laughed nervously.
"What's up?" Zell asked him.
"I… I'm getting excited, "Squall looked over at Zell and smiled, "I haven't felt this way before."
"Look!" Selphie pointed out the window, "Esthar!" The city was the largest in the whole world. Huge buildings and tons of bright blue and red roadways filled the horizon.
"Let's land this thing," Squall almost shouted. Zell landed the Ragnorok on the landing pad, and they all got out.
"Welcome to Esthar, how long will you be staying?" An Esthar Guard asked Squall.
"I don't know. I need to see the president."
"Oh, of course, you are the seeD from Balamb Garden that saved us from Lunatic Pandora! Follow me!" The guard led them to one of the many lifts, and they sat down. The lift hovered over the ground, and then sped down a red tunnel. After about five minutes, it stopped in front of the president's mansion.
"President Laguna is in his office."
"Thanks," Squall said to the guard. Squall, Zell, and Selphie walked slowly, side by side, through the president's mansion. They didn't know what to expect, but Squall was extremely anxious. He started walking faster and faster until he was running full speed. Then, he was there, standing in front of the door to the president's office. Zell and Selphie caught up to him and they all paused for a moment.
"You ready for this Squall?" Zell asked.
Squall hesitated, "Yeah, let's go." They pushed open the door and saw Laguna sitting at his desk, looking over some papers.
Squall couldn't help himself and shouted, "Laguna!" Startled, he looked up at Squall and smiled.
"Hi Squall. What brings you to Esthar?" Laguna asked unperplexed. He stood up and walked toward Squall.
"I need to find out about a sorceress memorial from 13 years ago. It was built be the people of Esthar to contain a girl named Mira… I have to find her…" Squall didn't know what else to say.
"Hmm, I can try and help you out, but I've never heard anything about this before. You can go check in the presidential archives. It has information about everything that happened since Esthar was built. If it existed, it will be recorded in there somewhere." Laguna went back to his desk and pulled out a small key. "Here," he handed it to Squall, "You'll need this to get in, we hardly ever open it these days."
"Thanks… dad," Squall bowed his head politely, then left the room. Squall forgot that Zell and Selphie were with him and hurried to the lift that led to the archive area. He got on and took off, leaving his friends behind.
"Hey, he's trying to leave us again!" Selphie exclaimed as she slammed on the lift buttons. Zell grabbed her arms and pulled her away from it.
"Maybe we should let him do this part on his own," Zell started, He'll tell us if he needs us now." Selphie thought about it for a moment then nodded. They sat down against the wall and waited.
The lift came to a halt, and squall stepped off. The archive room was a huge circular room, the walls full of drawers and shelves. In the middle of the room was a computer type monitor. Squall approached the monitor and looked at it for awhile.
I guess I have to look up what I want.
Squall typed in "Sorceress Memorials" and a giant machine arm went around the room grabbing different documents and putting them next to the monitor. After a few minutes, the machine stopped, and there were about a dozen documents to look through. Several were about the sorceresses and if they were put in a memorial or not. One shorter one was about Rinoa, but squall threw them all aside. He kept looking through them all, but there was no mention of a girl named Mira. Finally, the last document he looked at was a chart, showing the plans and locations of all the sorceress memorials. Squall almost cast it aside, but then realized there was one memorial he had never seen or heard of listed. It was an underground sorceress memorial, built about 14 years ago. This must be it!
The location of the memorial wasn't show, or even showed that it was officially built, but there were some coordinates scribbled on the bottom of the page. Squall didn't know much about coordinates, so he thought he would just put them in on the Ragnorok. He shoved the paper in his pocket and went back on the lift.
"Hey, the lift is coming back!" Selphie said excitedly. The lift landed, and Selphie and Zell stood up. Squall barely noticed them, and almost took off without them.
"Oh, guys, I found this!" Squall seemed nervous and anxious, but managed to get out the paper and hand it to Zell. Zell looked it over then handed it to Selphie to look at.
"Do you know where that is, Squall?" Zell asked uneasily.
"No, but I'm sure the Ragnorok can find it."
"I'm sure the Ragnorok can find it too, but Squall… I know where this is…" Zell looked over the document again to make sure.
"You do? Then let's hurry and go!" Squall started to run, but stopped when Zell didn't follow. "What's wrong!" Squall was getting frustrated.
"The coordinates are the same as Edea's house… the same as the orphanage."
"Are you sure?" Squall questioned. Zell nodded then looked over at Selphie who was in shock. They all stood motionless and quiet. They didn't know how it could be there, or why Edea wouldn't have already known this.
The orphanage… the memorial… sorceresses… Mira… Mira…
"Where are you!" Squall shouted then fell to his knees. Selphie went over and rubbed Squall's shoulders.
"Don't worry Squall, we'll find her," Selphie said unsurely. Squall got tears in his eyes, but didn't let the others see.
All this time… and the signs point back to the beginning again… how can you be at the orphanage? I'm so confused… Squall continued to think to himself. Even as Zell helped him up and walked back to the Ragnorok, Squall was like a lifeless shell. Squall sat down in a seat and just tried to think, or remember something.
"What should we do Zell?" Selphie whispered.
"I'm not sure… maybe we should just go home… Squall needs a good night's sleep."
"Ok…"
Zell started up the Ragnorok and started heading toward Balamb.