Chapter 13: The Old Flame
Crimson strands of sunlight shot down through the gaps in the leaves overhead as the quintet moved through the forest. Their time in the mines had spanned the better part of the day, and the sun had been setting as they left the mines. A short mile of open, grassy plains had stood between them and a long stretch of woodland, which Squall had quickly led the party into to avoid prying Shinra eyes. He could hear the distant sounds of helicopters far away, and knew how dangerous it was to stay on open ground.
Red remained on point, forging a path though the woods, while the others followed behind him in a loose, staggered line, their eyes on the woods. There was always the potential danger from creatures mutated by Mako energy use, and this forest was fairly close to a moderately powerful Mako reactor in the hills to the south at an old Shinra military base.
"Where are we going from here?" Quistis asked Squall as they walked.
"We need to find Sephiroth," Squall replied. "Our best bet is to find information as to where he's going. Shinra would have that."
"They won't just give it up," Zell remarked, and Squall nodded.
"We need to get information from them without them realizing it," Squall explained. "Our best bet is the naval base at Junon. Its about a day's travel from the western edge of this forest. Quistis and I are former Shinra military; we can sneak inside."
"Fine by me," Zell replied. "Okay, since we're out of the mines, I was wanting to know-" he turned his head toward Rinoa and Quistis. "How did you two do that stuff you did?" Rinoa chuckled to herself, while Quistis actually blushed a little bit. Quistis pulled back the sleeve on her left arm, exposing her bracer, and tapped one of the yellow lights on it.
"Blue magic materia," Quistis explained. "Very rare. Not many people know how to use them, either. It absorbs magic from other sources and lets me use it right back."
"You can steal other magic?" Squall asked, and she nodded.
"Really, any type of magic," she explained. "I don't actually need any spell-casting materia as long as I have this. If the spell is used on me or someone near me, the materia memorizes it, and . . . ." she shrugged.
"That's how you used the Zolom's fire magic," Rinoa added, and Quistis nodded.
"That could be useful when we find Sephiroth," Squall muttered, almost under his breath.
"Okay," Zell continued, looking to Rinoa. "Your turn. How'd you summon that thing in the mines?"
"Its hard to explain," Rinoa answered after a few moments. "I asked the earth to help me, and Titan appeared on its own. That's about it, really."
"You asked the Planet to help you?" Zell muttered, obviously confused.
"She is Cetra, Zell," Quistis reminded the brawler.
"Yeah, but . . . ." Zell replied, shaking his head. "Ah, forget it. This stuff's too over my head anyway. Let's just get to Junon so we can find Sephiroth and kick his ass."
Squall didn't disagree with Zell's sentiments, and led them deeper into the forest, trailing Red as he paved the way for them. The sunlight continued to fade, casting the forest around them into darkness as their boots crunched over fallen leaves and they meandered through the wooden pillars rising up around them. The clear sky was shifting to a cloudy, overcast one as the hours passed, shrouding the forest in darkness. Quistis nearly tripped over a fallen log in the dim light, and Squall finally called for a halt.
"Lets set up camp," he advised, and Zell nodded, glad for the rest.
"Get a fire goin'," he said with a grin, and Squall shook his head.
"Fire will give away our position," he replied. "Shinra might come looking for us." Zell whined something in protest, but didn't actually argue with Squall. However, to his surprise, Quistis shook her head.
"Out here, I'd be more worried about monsters than Shinra soldiers," she explained. "Beasts are afraid of fire, after all. The flames would keep them away."
"She's right," Rinoa added, looking around her at the woods. She gestured toward them, her eyes distant and unfocused. "There are creatures in the woods, but I don't think that there are any Shinra soldiers around here. The forest would know . . . ." Squall nodded, knowing better than to argue with someone who had senses he couldn't even imagine he possessed.
"And while I do not need to sleep," Red cut in from the camp's perimeter, stepping into view. "I do need to rest. My eyes cannot watch the forest all night, and fire would help with maintaining a watch."
Squall nodded again at Red's assessment. He looked around to the others, and shrugged. While the ex-SeeD wasn't the leader of the group in name, he seemed to be in practice, which was something he was unaccustomed to and not too happy with. He didn't like having to make the important decisions, and was willing to acquiesce to the others' demands.
"Okay," he said. "We'll get a fire set up. Nothing too big though, I don't want to alert Shinra if they are looking for us." The others nodded, and Zell quickly set out to recover some dead wood for kindling. In the meantime, the others quickly ate, wincing at the bad taste of protein rope and canteened water, and set up their sleeping bags. When Zell returned, Squall used a weak bolt of fire magic to set the wood ablaze, and thus was the small fire started.
Squall quickly gave orders for the watch, setting himself up as first guard for the night. The others agreed and bedded down, and within minutes the exhausted party fell asleep, excepting Red and Squall. Red XIII moved aside, separating himself from the others, and laid down on a patch of thick grass, and closed his eyes, breathing rhythmically. Squall watched him for a moment, noting how he seemed to slip into some sort of distant, meditative state, and then the ex-SeeD turned around, watching the forest all around their tiny camp.
The clouds had passed halfway into Squall's watch, and the stars and moon had emerged, casting brilliant silver light through the trees. He sat back, keeping his gaze toward the sky, but his ears alert for any noise indicating a threat. He rarely had gotten to enjoy a clear night like this, especially in polluted Midgar, and never within a forest. The leaves of the canopy overhead transformed the silvery light above into a series of shining shafts of cool, faint white light that filled the dark forest all around. It was beautiful, and Squall reveled in the darkness, the beauty, and the silence.
He heard a faint stirring within the small camp, and glanced over, to see Rinoa sitting up in her sleeping bag. Her eyes were cast up toward the clear night sky and the faint lights coming down. She glanced over to the fire, and saw that Squall had let it die down, distracted as he was and with the illumination provided by the starlight. She looked over at where he sat, and was surprised to see him looking her over where she lay, a curious look on his face.
"What?" she asked quietly, her voice carrying across the camp in the silence. She sat up straighter as he looked her over.
"You look . . . Different in the moonlight," Squall admitted, and Rinoa blushed. Squall glanced down at his side and drew his gunblade, holding the reflective metal out before her so she could see. Rinoa was surprised to see the moonlight seeming to twist around her shape, giving her a faint silvery aura over her body. Faint sparkles of white light passed before her, twinkling in the soft illumination.
"I've never seen this before," she whispered, surprised. "Living in the undercity of Midgar for so long . . . ."
"It must be because you're Cetra," Squall commented quietly. Rinoa nodded, and looked up at the moon overhead, watching it intently.
"I never had gotten a chance to get outside of the city," she said after a moment. "I couldn't hear the Planet clearly in Midgar, except at the church. But out here, I can hear everything. The earth, the forest, the wind . . . I can even hear the moon and the stars."
"What does it sound like?" Squall asked.
"Beauty," she whispered. "Natural beauty, like a perfect melody being sung by a million voices, all of them perfectly accompanying one another. Though, it feels like the harmony is being lost, and discordant notes are mixing in slowly. Nothing really noticeable until you hear the song clearly, like I can out here. It must be the reactors."
She looked at Squall, who was also staring at the moon above. His eyes glittered in the night, shining a bright blue in the darkness.
"What was it like in SeeD?" she asked, and Squall looked back down, meeting her eyes for a moment, before his gaze went distant.
"It was tough," he said. "We trained constantly. Every morning we ran ten miles before breakfast, and after that was physical training all morning. The weapons trainers were merciless, and the political and corporate trainers were even worse. They pushed us very hard, and only the toughest and strongest and most ambitious passed each exam."
"You said the mission with Sephiroth was your first one?" Rinoa asked, and Squall nodded.
"Technically, it was my second," Squall explained. "My first was the final exam, which was a mission for Shinra. My unit was assisting with putting down the rebellion in Costa Del Sol that occurred a year ago. We came in on landing skiffs. There was a lot of anti-ship fire from the shore . . . ." Squall trailed off, and then looked away suddenly. Rinoa looked in the same direction, and they both heard a faint snapping sound, as if someone had stepped on a leaf.
Squall scanned the trees, and froze, catching a faint reflection of light, silvery illumination bouncing off a reflective metal surface. He narrowed his eyes, spotting the shape of the mirroring object. It looked like a blade, long and slender, and the person holding it momentarily came into view. Squall saw a gloved hand, a white sleeve, and above that-
Squall shot to his feet, snatching up his gunblade.
"Squall, wait!" Rinoa called after him, and the rest of the camp was quickly startled awake as Squall plunged into the woods without another word.
-and above that, a sword-shaped, blood-red cross emblazoned on the sleeve.
The figure had dashed out of sight the moment Squall began to pursue, but the ex-SeeD kept his ears tuned and alert, hearing the faint rustle of shifting leaves and the occasional snapping twig as he pursued his target. He spotted a flash of white ahead as the figure shot through a shaft of moonlight, and the glimpse confirmed who it was.
"Hold it!" Squall ordered, and he raised his hand, firing off a bolt of lightning in the direction of the retreating figure. It spun suddenly, snapping up its long, slender blade, and the weapon caught the bolt on its broad side. The shot of electricity deflected off the weapon, into a nearby tree. Squall skidded to a halt.
He's junctioned. Good. Let's make this interesting.
"Been a long time," came the voice of the man Squall was pursuing. "Comrade."
"A year ago," Squall answered, with a nod, and he heard a chuckle.
"Still like the scar I gave you?" he asked. Squall didn't immediately answer, and the man laughed again. "Come on, Squall. Let's see if your footwork is still as good as its always been." With that, the white-clad figure spun, crouched, and the leapt straight up, fifteen feet, into the lower branches of one of the trees. Squall didn't hesitate to follow, leaping upward into the branches as well. He landed on the same bough his opponent stood on, feet perfectly balanced.
He stared into the steel-gray eyes of his opponent, who grinned. His hair was a bit longer, and his immaculate coat was stained and tattered in a few spots, but otherwise, he looked the same, still sporting that cocky trademark grin of his.
"Are you still with SeeD, Seifer?" Squall asked, and Seifer Almasy chuckled.
"Grew out of it," he replied with a shrug. "Too many regulations, and they didn't like a free thinker like me running around. They tried to 'retire' me, so I buried a few of their men and went on the run." Squall frowned. He knew what happened when important Shinra employees and officers were "retired" by the company. Seifer was lucky he survived and escaped.
"Why are you out here?" Squall asked, and Seifer nodded back the way Squall had come.
"Saw the fire, had to see who was hanging around these woods," he explained. "Wasn't expecting to see you here, though. You still keeping your edge, Squall?"
"I could ask you the same question," Squall replied, and Seifer's smirk grew. Without another word, he stepped forward quickly, balancing perfectly on the bough, and dashed at Squall, spinning around into a wild arcing slash.
The slender gunblade known as Hyperion clashed with Squall's rising weapon, the Revolver meeting it halfway as it had so often in the past. Squall applied pressure, forcing the slender blade down, and stepped forward, colliding with Seifer hard and tossing the other ex-SeeD backward. Seifer easily regained his footing and balance, and snapped his gunblade across to intercept a heavy cleave from Squall's weapon. The two blades clashed again, and Seifer reversed Squall's maneuver, throwing Squall's weapon out wide and diving in behind it with a quick thrust. Squall ducked back and beneath the blade as it cut past him, and chopped across in an arcing cleave that forced Seifer back a step, his back almost colliding with the tree. Squall rushed forward, slashing hard at the cornered Seifer, who deftly parried, blades clashing in the night air. Seifer suddenly stepped forward, pushing Squall back, and then jumped straight up, grabbing another branch over his head and flipping up onto it.
Seifer landed easily on the branch, and it took Squall less than a second to chase him down, mimicking his rival's maneuver and spinning onto the branch, landing with his feet balanced perfectly, precisely in time to intercept a sword slash diving for his face. Squall rose, countering with a quick chop that sent Seifer backstepping along the length of the thinner branch. Squall chased after Seifer, cleaving at his opponent again, and Seifer met the charge with a counter, weaving his gunblade within Squall slash and ducking low, jabbing his free hand into Squall's gut. The impact staggered Squall for a moment, forcing him a step back, and Seifer spun around into a high kick aimed at Squall's head. Revolver's wielder saw the attack coming a split-second before it struck, and ducked beneath the kick. Squall stabbed down at the knee on the leg Seifer was balancing on, and the other ex-SeeD had to hop back, almost losing his balance as his other foot came down. Squall pursued, cleaving again with his gunblade in a high left slash which Seifer caught and sent spinning up over his head with a deft parry.
Squall released his gunblade with his left hand and rushed forward, crashing into Seifer and barreling him backward, left hand closing over his shirt. The ex-SeeD spun, tightening his fingers, and hurled Seifer off the branch, toward another tree. Seifer hurtled through the air for a moment before crashing hard into the solid bark and falling down, but not before he caught another branch in his free hand and flipped up onto it. He was regaining his footing as Squall dropped down to the same level, shaking the branch they both now stood upon. Not wasting any time, Seifer led into his next attack with a straightforward thrust, which he quickly retracted and then spun around into a low cut aimed at Squall's legs. Squall saw the feint for what it was, and hopped over the slicing gunblade as it dove low. He hit the branch with his feet balanced, and rushed forward, chopping hard at Seifer's head as the other ex-SeeD began to stand.
Hyperion dove inside the cleave and stopped Squall's attack dead in the air between the two fighters. He pushed up, trying to throw Squall back, but his rival refused to move, and finally, Seifer shrugged and lashed out with a boot at Squall's feet. His kick impacted Squall's left ankle and knocked it loose from the branch, throwing off Squall's balance and forcing him to take a ponderous step back. In that moment, Seifer rose and dashed forward, stabbing hard at Squall's chest.
Squall slapped his free hand on Hyperion's flat, knocking the weapon down past his left hip, while bringing the Revolver up and aiming it at Seifer's face. Seifer's own left hand rose, catching Squall's wrist and redirection his gunblade over Seifer's left shoulder.
The two rivals crashed into each other headfirst, skulls crunching together and hurling each other backward. Seifer tumbled off the branch, and Squall tried to grasp at the bough himself as he flopped over the edge, and both of the rivals crashed hard into the ground thirty feet below.
"Ow," Seifer complained. He pushed himself up, a leaf clinging to his forehead, which he blew away in annoyance. "What did they make your head out of, mythril?"
Squall muttered something unintelligible as he sat up, rubbing his head as well.
"That was fun," Seifer added with a chuckle. "Lets go again."
"What the hell?" muttered a voice, and they both looked up, to see Quistis, Zell, and Red, standing over the dazed pair of fighters, apparently confused at what just happened. Rinoa stood behind them, looking at Seifer in abject shock.
"Seifer?" she asked, and he blinked, eyes focusing on the dark-haired girl.
"Rinoa?" he muttered, confused.
"Thank Hyne," Zell remarked after swallowing a chunk of cooked chicken. The others around him, surrounding the small camp, were also eating the meal Seifer had provided from his own rations. Squall, too, was eating, though more slowly, considering his old rival's unexpected appearance in the woods.
"You're Squall's old friend, right?" Quistis asked to Seifer, and both he and Squall snorted simultaneously at that notion.
"Interpreted loosely," Seifer explained, raising a finger. "Yes."
"More like two guys who beat each other up every chance they get," Squall muttered, and Seifer glanced at him.
"I see why you guys made him your leader," Seifer commented.
"We have our reasons," Rinoa added with a slight giggle.
"So, Rinoa, you and Seifer are . . . ." Zell began to say, and stopped at a glare from Seifer.
"We were," Rinoa answered after a moment of silence. She glanced over at Seifer, who tore another piece out of his part of the meal. The obvious implications of what had passed were apparent on everyone's minds - those two didn't want to talk about it. Squall, Quistis, and Zell knew that the unexpected meeting was a happy thing for the two, but they needed a moment to sort out what had happened since they'd last seen one another.
"Not since after Costa Del Sol," Seifer continued after a few moments, and glanced pointedly at Squall. "Shinra tried to retire me, but I didn't let them. Ever since I 'quit,' I've been a freelancer, doing mercenary work and the occasional act of banditry or piracy against Shinra."
"Why are you out here?" Quistis asked. This place wasn't where Shinra routinely operated. It was a pretty quiet region of the continent, after all.
"Heading for another job," Seifer explained. "There's a fortress about thirty miles south of this forest, called Fort Condor. They're paying good money for any mercenaries who can come help them fight."
"Fight who?" Zell asked.
"Who else?" Seifer replied with a grin. "Shinra. Condor's got the money, but they don't have the men or firepower to hold off Shinra forever. Rumor has it that Shinra is massing troops for an all-out offensive against Condor soon. One of the last bastions of resistance against Shinra on this continent. Would be a shame to see it fall."
"Damn shame," Zell muttered, and Squall could tell from his voice and expression precisely what the brawler wanted to do.
"Anyway," Seifer said. "What about you guys? Why are you all out here on the edge of civilization? Heard something nasty happened in Midgar a few days ago. Plates falling, reactors exploding, train massacres, assault on the Shinra HQ. Said an ex-SeeD traitor was behind it all, and I knew that I wasn't involved, so I thought it might have been you, Squall."
"You guessed right," Squall replied. "We were behind most of what happened, though Shinra were the ones who dropped the plate and destroyed the train. We weren't the ones who assassinated President Shinra, either."
"Wished we were," Zell muttered.
"Who did?" Seifer asked, taking a drink from his canteen.
"Sephiroth," Squall answered, and Seifer suddenly spat a geyser of water from his mouth.
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinkin', too," Zell remarked.
"The Sephiroth?" Seifer asked, and shook his head before anyone could answer. "Damn, and I thought I was gutsy. Good luck with that shit."
"You're not going to help us?" Quistis asked, and Seifer shook his head.
"Goin' for Condor, not a suicide mission," Seifer replied. He patted a pouch on his side. "I'm in it for the money nowadays. Money and killing Shinra. I'll let you guys handle Sephiroth. Hell, with Squall on your side, you may stand a chance."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Squall commented, and Seifer chuckled. His rivals stood up, dusting off his trenchcoat, and reaching for the heavy pack he was carrying.
"Socializing was fun and all," he said to the surprised looks of his comrades. "But I gotta go. Important as I am, that war won't wait for me to arrive. Need to get moving."
"Seifer," Rinoa said suddenly, and he paused, looking to her, and from his expressions, almost stopped. Almost.
"I'll be at Fort Condor if you're looking for me," he said quietly, and without any further words, Seifer Almasy turned and walked off into the moonlit trees, past the light of the rekindled fire. His coat disappeared into the trees.
The next morning, general consensus had been reached. Both Zell and Quistis wanted to aid any allies they could in fighting Shinra, and naturally wanted to go straight for Fort Condor right away. Rinoa had also confided that she wouldn't mind heading for Condor as well, for no other reason than to see Seifer again, something that made Squall feel oddly. He wasn't sure precisely what the feeling was, just an odd annoyance that Rinoa was still interested in Seifer. Red XIII remained ambivalent about the whole thing, neither caring if they headed that way or not.
And Squall . . . .
Squall, as de facto leader, considered steering clear of Condor himself, not risking further exposure to Shinra. But any allies against Shinra would be useful, and he didn't want to have to rely on that mystery sniper who kept helping them out. Condor would provide shelter and supplies as well. And, in all honesty, Squall would not mind fighting alongside Seifer again. He hoped he could convince Seifer to join them, considering they were old comrades in arms. If nothing else, Squall could probably hire Seifer on if need be. He'd feel good with his rival fighting alongside him once again.
Thus, with a clear majority wanting to go toward Fort Condor, Squall set their course south that morning. Soon enough, they left the forest and crossed an open plain, marching south to join the war against Shinra.
"Yes sir," he reported, watching them from a distance, smiling. "They're moving south. Toward Fort Condor. You were right, they are willing to join the war there. Shinra won't know what hit them."
He paused listening, and nodded, brushing off his weathered coat as he did so.
"Yes sir, I'm watching them. No harm will come to them while they're at that battle, I can guarantee that."
He stood on one of the ridges near Fort Condor, binoculars pressed to his eyes as he observed his charges. When they had disappeared into the forest, he wasn't sure where they'd end up. He was glad he'd guessed correctly. Rumors of war could bring one running fast . . . Especially with the obvious Shinra buildup to the south.
"Understood, Mr. President, I'll keep them safe for as long as I need to. Goodbye."
He rose from his crouching position on the ridge, and looked to the mighty edifice of Fort Condor. He knew he had one hell of a task ahead of him with this battle.
-
Erg. Short chapter. Setting things up for a major battle next chapter! I hope I can do it the same justice that I did with the big Garden War in Gunblade!
Anyway. I liked this chapter, especially the Crouching Tiger-style combat in the treetops.
Peptuck's Shining Shout-Outs of Great Justice!
Masamune: I don't like Cloud because,e xcepting his damn jaw-dropping backstory, there's nothing there. He's bland and boring beyond that. He has no personaility (which itself isn't so bad, considering he's been in a tube for five years) but I would have been happier if he'd kept his "Shut up, I don't care about you" personality fromt he beginning of the game, rather than start wussing out during the later points of the game. He was cool in Midgar, but by the end of the first disc, he was a wimp.
Daniel Wesley Rydell: I'll take that as a challenge. :P
Angel-Brokensorrow: You want carnage? Wait until I release my hidden project I'm working on (aside from, y'know, this, and Chimera, and Legacy, and . . . .)
I am sort of dissappointed, but I really don't mind now. I'm going to try for the Navy or Air Force, though I can hear my old NROTC budies laughing their asses off if I go Air Force. :P
AngelofDeath345: 1: Yes. Don't trust Squall's memories, they are as effed up as Cloud's. :P But that's a given with this story.
2: Yes. Its also a Seinoa as well, to a degree.
3: That's a given. :P
4: I'll never tell! Mwahahaha!
I placed Rinoa in Aeris' place because she does have that "magical girl" vibe,a nd I really wanted to get dark with Squall at the end of the story. The story has a "moderately happy" ending planned for it.