The city was under attack, there was no other way to put it. No polite, long winded words to describe it other wise. Sugar coated words seemed to be completely useless here and wouldn't make the situation anyless harsh than it was.
Laguna raced down the corridor, mentally counting how many times he could hear his feet hit the heavy carperted floor. His mind also asking who the hell would be stupid enough to go and attack the city so recklessly. The attackers must have a suicide wish, there was no any other reasonable way of thinking about it.
Didn't everyone one the planet now have a nice relative peace that they were all wanting? Surely everyone was getting along nicely in the great sandbox they called life?
Part of him revelled in the chance to finally shake some of the cobwebs off and see some real action in the city. It had been seventeen years since he last picked up a weapon and defeated his country. Kiros and Ward however were not so keen on seeing thier friend get involved in the upcoming action. They had demanded that he locked himself up in a small and safe room.
They weren't amused at how readily the president was willing to jump infront of danger and forget that there was any consquences. He seemed to automaticly think that things would work out in the long run if he just believed it.
The diplomatic part of him was scared out of his mind though but he couldn't let his fellow citizens see that they had a big sissy for a leader. He'd managed to bring down Adel and that woman...for lack of a better word, was built like a heavy armoured tank.
He managed to establish a pet fear of women over six feet tall. He shook his head clearing it of any thoughts that strayed into his head. Laguna had to keep himself focused and thinking about women who kicked the crap out of small countries for the hell of it wasn't making him feel better about rushing into any dangerous situations.
"Out of one big frying pan and into the freezer," Laguna muttered as he reached the heavily guarded doors.
The guard who was in charge looked at him in confusion. He knew the man had a somewhat unique way with the english language but that never failed to confuse and perplex half of the city.
"Sir?" the younger guard blinked, this was the first time that he had actually met the president in person and he had always though the man would be...well, a little bit taller than what he was.
Laguna smiled, "Nothing, so, who are you guys protecting in that room?"
The guard stood a little straighter, "The president, sir."
Esthar's president raised a surprised eyebrow, how could they protect him if he was currently outside of the safe room? The soldier obviously knew who he was addressing but not the fact that he wasn't were he was supposed to be.
"Of Esthar?" Laguna scratched the back of his head.
Again the guard seemed to straighten, "Yessir!"
"You know who I am?" Laguna placed a friendly hand on the guard's shoulder, trying to get a better look as to what kind of arsenal he could try and sneak of with.
"Of course I do," the guard sounded perplexed, "You're President La..."
The guard's face burned red with embaressment when he realised who he was addressing at long last. The poor guard felt like a complete idiot, the first time he encountered the man and he was left looking like a fool.
"Sorry sir," the young man blushed with shame, he might as well head off home and start flipping burgers at Mckings.
The president shrugged, he was more interested in gaining access to the cool looking rifles the soldiers were running around with to be bothered by the lack of knowledge the guard had shown to him.
An explosion knocked those gathered to thier feet, glass could be heard shattering from the inside of the sealed room. Voices filled the silence that had risen. Ugly and coarse language being shouted in the normally serene and peaceful city.
Instinct kicked in for Laguna, his army training finally kicking in after nearly two decades of him sitting on his ass. Commanding a group of soldiers was a cake wake comapred to to ruling a city. He still had to admit that he had his L plates on. Why people came to him looking for advice when it came to ruling was beyond him.
"Quick," Laguna barked as he stood shakily, "Barricade that dooor and make damn sure that noone gets through."
The guard he had spoken to got to his feet, when did a war begin? After those SeeD's had performed that top secret mission, that was supposed to have been the end of the matter.
"Are we at war sir?" the young guard followed the lead of the older soldiers who were tearing up the hallway, building barracades.
Laguna shook his head, he wasn't aware of anything that would resemble a war. Timber had it's independance at long last, the Galbadian goverment had elected a new president and the man didn't appear to be too power hungry. It made no sense as to why this was happening.
Who was stupid enough to go agaisnt them? Off the top of Laguna's head, he would have quite happily stated that it would have been Galbadia but the country had been behaving itself recently due to having their collective asses kicked and besides, the president of the fallen country was way to much of a suck up to be any real danger.
There wasn't any other real power other than Galabadia and Esthar on the planet. Balamb was quite happy to sit and watch the sea lap against the shore and had no real interest in politics. Winhill just wanted to stay out of everything, to be forgotten by the outside world.
Maybe Galbadia Garden? the soldier's mind asked, they might still be working for Siefer. You know he doesn't like Squall or you for that matter.
Siefer Almassy was currently missing but that meant nothing. The young man might have taken some time to think about his actions and his life. Surely he finally saw that his life was worth more than what the evil sorceress from the future had shown him. Maybe he was deciding on what kind of career he was going to have now.
Before he and Squall had went their seperate ways, the pair had actually spoken at great length. The normally brassy Seifer had treated Squall as an equal and not as some enemy that needed to be hated and feared. Squall had shown patience and the brunnette had sat and listened carefully to what was being said.
No one knew what had went on during that lengthy coversation but both young men had went away looking more settled with each other. Laguna had asked on a few occassions about what had been said but Squall had and would blank any attempts to bring the subject up.
Had the pair finally came to an understanding or were they just waiting for the chance to really tear chunks into each other?
"I haven't pissed anyone off recently have I?" Laguna pulled on a classic chair and decided that it was worth being sacraficed, "I thought the Shumi Tribe had forgiven me for throwing up on that moomba..."
"You threw up on a moomba?" Selphie's light voice could be head, her eyes dancing with energy. She was tense, her body reacting to the upcoming battle that everyone seemed to know was coming.
The president frowned, hating how no one seemed to laugh with him. Why did no one get his jokes? They were funny...at least to him. People always seemed to laugh at him when he said things wrong but Laguna had gotten used to that.
"Trying to be funny," Laguna shrugged, "What the hell is going on out there? Any ideas?"
The bubbly brunnette shook her head, the cloud that she had been seen earlier had totally ransacked the city. She had barely managed to get to the palace before it hit the fan. She had never seen so many soldiers all in one place before.
They were like a swarm, she jumped back when something pounded on the door to the room where Laguna normally worked. Thankful for the fact that it was pretty impossible to keep Laguna tied down to one place. The man was a constant bundle of energy.
"Who'd wanna destroy my city?" Laguna stood back from the door, eyeing up the rubble that had been hastily shoved infront of it.
Doctor Odine walked into the corridor, "I zink I may know this answer."
Why is it that whenever he says he knows something, Laguna ran a hand through his hair, I know that something bad is going to happen and bite us in the proverbal ass.
"Wanna share that doc," Laguna crossed his arms, not impressed with the weird little professor, "Telepathy was something I flunked at high school."
It was rare that the little man would leave the safe confines of his lab unless it was something major and really quite fascinating to him. That usually spelt trouble for everyone else who worked for the man and a major headache for the president.
"Come with me," Odine shuffled back in the direction he had came from, "I vill share everything I know in ze lab."
Selphie looked at the president, "What about the city?"
Odine shook his head, "Ze city is not important right now. Vhat I have to say iz. Come."
"Great..." Laguna growled as he picked up a rifle and made sure it was loaded, "why do I get days where I wish that I never left the safety of Winhill?"
Time compression area...
Cid ran with a new passion, Bahamut Zero had sensed another summon near by. Ifrit and Shiva were waiting patiently to be called into battle but the pair had been kept on the sidelines. Waiting to be called into action but happy to be kept quiet and out of action.
Squall found himself struggling to keep up with the trio ahead of him. He had never enjoyed cross country running and this trek across this deserted and barren land was bringing back memories that he thought he had buried.
This place felt so lonely. Nothing grew or tried to grow in the coldness. The air had a stagnent and musty feel to it, a dark shadow hung over the group like a lead.
If I call them... Squall kept reminding himself, they'll slow down.
"Hey..." Squall panted weakly, not thrilled about admitting that he was getting tired, "could you guys wait up?"
Zell stopped, looking back to him. He hadn't realised just how far the teen had fallen behind them and how he was struggling to keep up. His own legs threatened to give from under him but right now, speed was of the essence. They needed to get to the city and warn everyone about the upcoming army.
"C'mon man, we gotta hurry," he waved for the leader to make a faster move.
Easy for you to say, the SeeD lagging behind thought, you weren't beaten up by a girl earlier this week.
Quistis paused a few moments after hearing Zell, why had they left Tifa to die back there? Why had they abandoned Vincent so readily, was this how they treated their friends back in their own time? Running away when they really needed help and assistence?
She looked over to Squall, her blue eyes taking in the fact that some colour had finally managed to creep into normally pale cheeks. She knew he detested any kind of running. He'd always claimed that if SeeD's were meant to run, they would never have invented cars and bikes.
"Why...have we...stopped?" Cid leaned forward, taking deep breaths. His many years of smoking finally catching up with him.
Quistis pointed over to Squall who slowly limped over to them, "Squall had been attacked before Vincent took us. He's still pretty bruised."
"Who...attacked him?" Cid closed his eyes, his heartbeat thundering in his chest like the rythmic drums of the long forgotten Cosmo canyon during a festival.
"Xu," Quistis shook her head at that, again, she didn't even know who that was anymore.
Her reported best friend was an evil killer who was trying to bring a dead girl back to life. The betrayal of her friend cut the blonde girl to the core, it wasn't fair.
Cid frowned at the answer. Xu...Yuffie, the great ninja. At least she was alive but what he didn't get was that she had time and plenty of opportunity to go and kill everyone of the teens that she had been ordered to without a problem at a young age.
Accidents while training weren't that unusual, why hadn't she tried to bump them off that what? Why wait until now? It didn't make much sense to him unless she had also decided that killing them was really wrong as well but didn't want to tell cloud about her sudden change of attitude.
"Ah..." he managed after a while, "Yuffie."
An uncomfy silence followed for a few seconds, "...right."
Quistis didn't know what to say to the man infront of her, Vincent usually provided some kind of conversation. It hadn't been the greatest but he would at least answer all questions put to him and would make sure they were all okay. This man seemed to be to interested in trying to get them all to Esthar.
She still couldn't get around the fact that her parents were alive, she wasn't from this world or even timeline is she was to believe what was being said. All she knew with relative safety was that her name was Quistis, everything else like when and where she was born was a mystery to her.
The blonde man infront of her was her father yet he had made no moves to talk to her, treating her like a complete and utter stranger. Was he perhaps unsure about her after all these years?
Oh come on now, she thought bitterly, you didn't honestly think that it would be like Squall and Laguna did you? You didn't really think that your folk was some long lost hero?
"Why did you leave me?" Quistis blurted out, she clamped a hand over her mouth, that was supposed to be a silent question.
Cid Highwind blinked blankly for a second, "Eh...oh...who told you...oh right. Bloody vampire."
Qusitis crossed her arms, not sure about the cleavage of her top as she caught Zell briefly looking at it for a long second. Why she had convinced Vincent to buy it for her was anyone's guess but she now wished she hadn't. Squall had also kept sneaking looks at her when they had walked to the cafe and everytime she caught him, he'd blush.
"Any reason as to why you are staring?" she whispered to her childhood friend, she didn't want to catch the attention of their vampiric jailure.
She'd never seen Squall go that shade of pink before and she had to admit that he looked really cute then. If she hadn't of known who he was and his girlfriend, she would have flirted a little more with him.
"Nothing in particular," the male SeeD offered casually, "Just a nice top."
Quistis blushed and smiled, "Thank you."
"Would have looked better on me though," Squall whispered as he tried to lighten the mood.
"Hey? Earth to Quistis?" Cid clicked his fingers, "Come on. We're near Esthar, now aint the time to let your guard down okay?"
"The former Garden intructor frowned, "Sorry."
Cid softened a little, "I know how hard this is but stay focused right now okay? Everything will work out, I promise ya."
"You see that in the little glass ball?" Squall's voice dripped with sarcasm.
The blonde pilot smiled, "Life experience. Usually when ya got AVALANCHE working for ya the job gets done but when ya got Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine on ya side, you're chances double."
"Speaking of Cid and Vincent," Zell recalled the coversation the pilot had had with Chaos, "What did Diablos mean back there? You and Vincent being a tag team?"
Squall crossed his arms, "He said you had been a part of it."
Again, Cid tried to brush off the painful topic. It wasn't the time to be standing around talking about his own morbid role in this game. He was much more concerned about getting the teens to the end of their natural long lives.
"It aint import..." Cid was grabbed by the collar, Zell growled in frustration.
"It damn well is!" Zell shook with rage, "All we have done is run from every problem that's came up. I want answers!"
Squall said nothing as he watched. Cid had encountered them in the cafe and hadn't been forth coming with any new information. Chaos or Diablos had hinted at the man's dark past but neither had went into any further detail.
"Zell's right," Squall walked slowly over to the pair, "We know next to nothing about you. How do we trust you?"
Cid pushed Zell off him, "Trust, you have to go on a little trust ya know?"
It felt so easy just to backhand the little punk and drag him to the city. Anything in order for them to shut up and do as they were told. He closed his eyes for a brief second, he didn't want to freak out in front of the kids but it was proving harder to keep the dark thoughts away.
The former SeeD intructor raised an eyebrow, "Trust? We don't even know you."
The four stood silently in the corridor. The air had taken on a nasty chill to it. Not one of the three teens seemed willing to go on that little bit of trust that Cid had asked them for. They wanted answers but would they be able to cope with the brutally honest truth?
Cid relented but not completely, "Now now okay? Please...just not now."
Zell shook his head, "No, now. We aint moving another inch until ya give me something."
How bout a kick up the arse? Cid thought.
"Look we can't stay here. It's too damn dangerous," Cid looked over his shoulder, wondering if Cloud or Barret would make an appearence.
"Not until..." Zell felt like he was beginning to sound like a broken down record but he had been interupted by Cid.
"Dammit alright," Cid hissed, "I'm Cid Highwind. Born and raised in Gongaga, moved to Rocket Town when I was twenty two for the space program. Joined AVALANCHE when I was thirty two. Turned into a heartless cold blooded killer on what should have been my...eight hundreth birthday. Turned to the light side seventeen years back."
All the three teens blinked, eight hundred years? The guy dressed in black didn't look much older than thirty three, thirty six at the very oldest. Vincent wasn't or didn't look much older than his late twenties but the dark haired man had good skin.
"Eight hundred...?" Quistis could feel her grip on reality slowly slip from her fingers, "You're over eight hundred years old?"
Patience was now running thin with the blonde captain. "Yeah...bout that. Please, I'll tell more when we are all somewhere safe and sound. I'll talk til the cows come hom and when Sephiroth come selling cookies for the girl guides. Move your asses!"
"You'll tell us everything?" Zell raised his head, not really convinced that he would get the whole truth that was promised to him.
The older blonde nodded, "Including Cloud's inside leg measurements."
"Great," Squall resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "We can taylor him to death in really cheap and tacky suites."
Bahamut Zero quivered intently on Cid's wrist. Something of incredible power was making it's way to them. It wasn't sure of it was it's brethran, the same mist that had kept sparking his master's temper was affecting the great summon as well.
Was it Bahamut Neo? It didn't feel like the aerial dragon though, through the years of evil, spirits can warp and hearts can change.
It felt Cid rub the small red orb that contained it's mighty spirit, the master was disheartened and concerned over something. He didn't like being trapped in this desolute place. Feelings that had long been forgotten were rising to the surface and it was getting harder to resist.
Bahamut Zero knew how concerned Cid was feeling for his old friend Vincent. It worried him to see how easily Chaos had taken control over the frail human body that housed it. It reflected Cid'd own battle with his own personal demons which were slowly winning over the longer he stayed here.
Slowly, Cid shook himself free of Bahamut's feelings, the dragon not happy about the feelings that were surrounding it. It know something was wrong like he did. Though it didn't understand as to why Cid wasn't going to do anything about it.
It was Quistis who clicked her fingers, "Hey, Earth to Cid. Come on, no time for day dreaming okay?"
"Wasn't," Cid flashed a smile, "Come on, trouble's following us like a dog in heat and I want to have some kind of an army to protect us."
Squall stepped infront of him, "Esthar will pull through this right?"
Cid said nothing as he gazed past the grey eyes of the teen infront of him. What could he? There was no way that anyone on the planet was going to pull through this. People where going to die. Cloud had long ago decided that he was at war with the world and every living soul in it that threatened his plan to bring Aeris back.