Chapter Seven

'Centra, an empire that at one point that spanned the entire globe, controlling every race of man, every kingdom that had spawned from man's greed of power thousands of years prior. It was said that in the ancient years, a general with no name or past known by historians, told the ruler of Centra at the time, who's name was also forgotten by history, if he was given a thousand man he would conquer the entire world.

Of course no one believed the general, and according to legend the ruler of Centra told the general that if he brought the ruler the head of a dragon, he would get his warriors. So the general went out into the world, and searched for a weak dragon. When he found one, old and worn by down by age and countless raids, the general easily killed it. He brought the head of the dragon to the ruler, and no one knew that the dragon was weak. So, the General got his thousand warriors, and with them conquered every kingdom, large and small, in the name of Centra.

And the rest, as they say, is history. The General kept his word, and conquered the entire known world for his Empire. And Centra kept all of it's provinces under check for thousands of years, until the day of the first Lunar Cry, when the entire populous of the Moon, which were entirely gruesome monsters and creatures, dropped from the Moon and crushed the Centra.'

With a duffel bag strapped over his shoulder, Ferin stared down at an ancient Centra tower, its many technological features rusted and torn down by many of the continent's inhabitants. Despite its ruined features, Ferin couldn't help but think of how he was standing on the grounds of a once great empire, the only one of its kind. No other empire like Centra held so much for so long.

'And yet, it came to an end.'

With a sigh, Ferin pushed onward, his hand gripped on the rope that was tied around Alladra's arms.

"So Ferin, what are you going to do to me?" Ferin's past lover asked, her eyes obviously holding back her fears and feelings. Alladra never was one to keep what she felt away from those close to here.

"You're bait" Ferin said plainly and emotionlessly, trying to make her think he did not care for her. "Balamb is coming for you, and while they are we're to sneak in and rescue the captive."

"Who is this captive, Ferin? Or do you not know?"

"Keep your mouth shut Alladra" was all Ferin said on the matter.

It was another half hour before they reached their destination, a cliffside that stood defiantly against the sea, standing there as if it was protecting something from the storms and tsunamis that so commonly plagued the area.

To Ferin and Alladra, it seemed like a dead end, an open space where anyone could easily find their captive. When Ferin questioned Siegfred about the matter, screaming over the waves, Siegfred kneeled down, and pounded at a rock. It seemed like a senseless motion, but then there was some shaking, and then pieces of the cliff seemed to slip out, forming a large pair of stairs towards the cave below them.

"There" Siegfred said, pointing towards the newly revealed structure. "Put her there. We'll get her when we've rescued Red." Ferin obeyed Siegfred, tugging Alladra towards the cave ignoring her protests and curse words. With a toss he sent her into the cave, and when he walked prod-like towards his brothers, Siegfred kicked the stone, sending the massive stairs back into the cliff side. "Now, back east. Balamb landed an hour ago, and I don't want her to suffocate in that cave."

"How long does she have?" Ferin asked with a hint of some concern in his voice.

"A few days. If we don't get caught, she'll be just fine."

"And if we are?"

"She's screwed. And I don't think either of us wants that."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Think about it."

Ferin swore to himself when he realized that Siegfred knew about his and Alladra's past history. 'Damn it, he probably found out when I tried to act all cool and crap when he showed her to me the other day. Damn it, now he probably thinks I'm up to something. Did I lose his trust already? I hope not — I don't even know if his trust is worthwhile yet, but when or if it does turn out to be worthwhile, it will probably be too late to earn it back. Damn it!'

"Coming Ferin?" Yuri shouted over a small hill he and the others had already crossed, taking Ferin out of his train of thought. He nodded and followed his fellow fighters towards the place where they all escaped from long ago.

They were returning to Balamb…home.

A squad of four SeeDs marched by the four warriors as they laid behind a pair of rocks, their eyes just on the very edge of the rock hiding as much of their body as possible. It was nearly eleven at night, and it was a difficult road from the hidden cave to the shore where Balamb Garden had landed. Stealth was the best word to describe the warrior's tactic of movement as they traveled large distances on foot.

When the squad was out of their sight, Siegfred motioned the others to follow him, avoiding the spotlights that emerged from the war academy as they crept from rock to tree to hill, avoiding all patrols as they did so.

In a few short moments they were at Balamb's walls. Ferin drew from the duffel bag some ropes with grappling hooks on the end of them, and the four warriors swung the ropes far, towards the balcony. After several fool hardy attempts, the hooks latched on and they began their descent.

The moment they reached the balcony, Yuri set to work on unlocking the metal door that blocked them from Balamb's interior. Ferin sighed from relief when he managed to get on the balcony, with no SeeDs or spotlights planted on that individual balcony. That didn't take away the sense of danger, however, and the longer it took for Yuri to unlock the gate, the more nervous Ferin got.

When at last Yuri did manage to unlock the door, the four of them flooded into the hallway, taking a steep turn down several doorways until Siegfred raised his hand, forcing them to stop.

"Listen" he whispered. "Patrols, coming this way. In here!" Siegfred rushed into a nearby doorway, and the rest followed silently but quickly, closing the door a split second before the patrol would have actually seen them.

They all stood still, as still as any human could stand still for, hoping that the patrol did not hear them rush into the unknown room bathed in darkness. When the patrol's footsteps grew more and more distant, the infiltrators relaxed, thinking that the patrol was far down the hallway. Vargos flicked on the light switch, and everyone rubbed their eyes, adjusting to the light.

"So where are we now?" Yuri asked, and everyone shrugged, not exactly sure which room they were in now. "Or better yet, where do we go now?"

"Or even better yet" Ferin interjected "Where is the lab we were made into killers?"

"It's been too long" Vargos complained as he leaned against a long table stationed against the far wall. "I barely remember a thing."

"It's somewhere" Siegfred said reassuringly. "And that's all we need to worry about: it is here, somewhere. And one of our brothers is there, asleep in body but awake in spirit. We need to find him, for his and our sake. We can't survive in this world shattered, divided. We need to find each other."

"Wait a minute…" Ferin announced to the party, although not to anyone in particular. "I remember something…a great tree, like something I would read in those vacation pamphlets…it was big, really big, like as if it covered the whole sky…a palm tree, I think…"

"The training center!" Ferin exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. "The Training Center, where all the SeeDs trained! The lab! It must be in there somewhere!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Vargos asked, cracking his knuckles. "Let's get going! No more sneaking around, I say. Let's show SeeDs what us GAIAS are made of!"

"Let's fight to our brother then!" Yuri said agreeing.

"Yes…let's fight. Let's fight!" Siegfred ordered, twin short swords in hand. "Come; let's show Mr. Leonhart what we are made of." They left the small room in a huge flood, weapons in hand, adrenaline pumping through their veins, a wide grin spread on their faces. It was no longer time for them to hide from their enemy, their jailors for four long years until they all escaped, in one way or another; it was time to fight, together, as one large hoard.

At last, SeeD would know what monsters they're great headmaster had created.

Vargos led the way, his hands formed into fists, ready to pounce on any patrols they encountered as they ran down the hallway. When they left the hallway, and saw below them the first level of Balamb Garden, they leaped down towards the floor, yelling and shouting like a bunch of madmen as they did so, landed with a thunderous thud, and followed Ferin, who went to his left, which was his best guess on the direction of the Training Center.

But such a grand show of warriors yelling and running down the halls, drunken with an adrenaline rush and the lust of battle, would in no way go unnoticed by the newly hired guards of Balamb Garden, and it was not long until soldiers clad came upon them, rifles and war-blades in hand.

The guards, experienced as they were, had never fought super soldiers before, and were in complete shock when Vargos leaped form them, crashing into them with his fist, and taking another off balance with a high kick. More went down under a furry of bullets for Yuri's twin gunblade, and the soldiers retreated for more favorable ground than a narrow hallway when Ferin and Siegfred charged for them with blades in hand.

"Come!" Ferin called out to his allies. "To the Grounds, while they're disorganized!" The warriors followed the Wolf down the hallway, taking down all of the hired arms and guns that dared attempted to strike them down, until they found the green painted iron doors.

They found the Training Grounds.

With a mighty push Vargos opened the gate, and the four entered the Training Grounds, the humid atmosphere of a rain forest surrounding them like a fog on a highway, making them all the more uneasy. With a wave of his hand Siegfred ordered his fellow warriors to follow, and the four descended into the jungle.

The corpses of the dead monsters felled by Squall's furious gunblade a few nights before still littering the ivy ground, the four kept their defenses tight, the giant palm trees and bushes giving the impression of a horde of creatures watching them, sensing them, savoring them, ready at any moment to pounce on them from behind the bushes and palm trees.

They stayed closer as they ventured further and further on the paved path, looking for any indication of a lab entrance.

After walking in circles three times, everyone was beginning to have doubts.

"We're lost" Vargos moaned.

"We're not lost. We just…" Yuri began, trying his best to fill in the blank with answer that would remove the truth.

"Have no bloody idea where to go" Siegfred admitted.

"Quiet!" Ferin ordered from the pack. "It's around here. It has to be." The rest growled resentments, but followed the path. When they were half way around the paved path a fourth time, Ferin told everyone to stop.

"Wait! Look at the tree!" Ferin pointed to a palm tree stationed against the metal fence that kept the monsters from invading Balamb Garden, a tree that did not seem any different than all the others.

No one saw the meaning behind Ferin's revelations. "Yeah, what about it?" Yuri asked the trench coat-clad fighter.

"It hasn't moved. Its leaves have been in that same exact position ever since we've been here."

"You're sure?" Siegfred asked, doubting Ferin's theory.

"Positive" Ferin said not doubting his own assumptions. The scarlet-robed warrior, with two sweaty palms tightly wrapped around the massive Edomfray, ready at a moment's glance to strike down any creature that would leap at him, wishing to make him it's next meal, walked towards the tree.

Ferin kicked it with his boot and a bang that resembled the beating of a metal plate emerged. Ferin turned towards his brothers, a wide grin of self assurance on his face.

"What did I tell you?" Ferin said with a smile to Siegfred when the others walked over to the iron tree. The man just ignored Ferin's comment, and they set to work on trying to open the iron tree, for they were sure that there was some hidden door in the iron bark.

Suddenly, the sound of nearly silent gears turning echoed from the tree and the brothers rushed for the bushes, preparing to ambush any foe — if indeed the person was a foe — that left the mock tree. The iron bark folded away, and a door slid away, revealing an elevator disclosed in the tree.

But no one came out. It took only a moment for the four of them to rush into the elevator before the gate closed, transporting them to the Abyss of nightmares that they had all prayed they would never be forced to venture again, to never again be forced to recollect the pain that was brought onto them in the two years they were seen as nothing more than lab rats.

Not students, not children, not someone's son or brother or cousin or nephew, not as human beings. But merely as lab rats, as a way to further some mad fool's dreams…whatever those dreams were none of the them gave a damn for. All they did care for was the fact that for two years they were stripped of their humanity, of their soul.

And in return of amazing gifts and characteristics of warfare, they became monsters.

The fact that they were returning to the Abyss to rescue another of their brethren did little to sooth the emotional scars that plagued them. When the elevator doors slid open, the party walked back into the Abyss. The laboratory was dark, with few swinging lights loosely attached to the concrete ceilings the only source of light available to any one that would dare to venture in there.

Despite the sense of abandonment, many machinery that seemed to decorate practically every wall in the chrome dungeon bustled with activity, their monitors spewing a river of mathematical equations and information that would make only the slightest sense to the world's best mathematicians and high school math teachers. Small drones zoomed along the ceilings, floors and pathways as well, likely fast at work to complete some assignment that their insignificant processor had been made aware of. The drones had most likely been hard at work keeping the laboratory at pristine condition for years, and they would most likely do the same for many more.

The four warriors walked down several pathways, trying their best to make a mental map of the dungeon as they did so, trying to recollect from memory the way to where they were kept as prisoners those many years ago.

Those same rooms where they waited to either be tested on, to be injected with hundreds, if not thousands, of man-forged cells designed to push their bodily functions and organs far beyond what God had originally intended, or to go through rigorous back-breaking training.

The Four warriors paved their way through the old abyss, destroying the ancient droid defenders when necessary, slipping their way through outdated sensors and patrols when possible. Killing those that cared for this abyss was not their mission: they had little time to find and save their trapped brother, and they had to make use of that time.

They eventually became reckless, however. A mere minute in what would seem to them being a living hell appeared to be an eternity, and all four of them wished they would leave as soon as possible. They rushed, they miscalculated under the stress, and soon were pinned in one of the many control rooms, with several droid defenders slowly edging them closer and closer to the wall, their weapons pointed clearly at the Warrior's heads.

"This can't be the end."

"It won't be Ferin."

"We won't let it be, Siegfred."

"Agreed, Yuri."

"Vargos, what shall we do?"

"We kick their assess Ferin, what else can we do?"

"Strike fast and true?"

"Fast and true…"

"As a pack?"

"Yes Ferin. As a pack."

"Go, now! Strike!"

And with that, the four leaped towards the metallic warriors, carelessly putting their lives at danger. Then again, none of them truly cared for their lives at that moment. Death seemed far too certain, too much of a probability. Life seemed unlikely, so why not die in a glorious fight against all odds, rather than dieing quivering in a corner?

The Four Warriors struck at the druids in a unified strike, thrusting their blades and fists in such a swift motion that the droid's targeting systems could not keep up with them. Their bullets would miss the Warriors, hitting empty air most times and a few times hitting one of their robotic allies.

But despite the fact the advantages the Warriors held, they were still overmatched. For every warrior, there were four druids. It seemed hopeless when the druids circled around the fatigued and beaten warriors, their AI loading a fresh clip into their guns.

"Now!" And with that unexpected, and unfamiliar cry, a warrior covered in a red scarf and black clothes, leaped into the fray, golden gauntlets in hand with hand blades smelted onto them, slicing delicately and swiftly at the droids. This scattered the already loose formation of droids, and when a spear went through a droid's metal exoskeleton, the formation was shattered.

The spear returned to its wielder, who leaped from the shadows and returned to the fray. He was dressed in a white battle robe, and his unnaturally white hair braided fiercely. Despite the fact that he was blindfolded, he threw and maneuvered his spear with deadly accuracy and speed.

"Brothers!" Siegfred called out to them, leaping to their aid with his twin blades. The red rogue and the white spear man nodded in agreement, hinting to Ferin that they knew the meaning of the word.

"Let's help them Yuri!" Vargos whispered to the gunman, and Yuri agreed. Seeing he would quickly be left out of the fight, Ferin followed his five brothers against the droids.

What perplexed Ferin most of all was that despite the fact he had never met these two new warriors, they coordinated themselves as if they had talked tactics for hours, even days, before they met. Then it occurred to Ferin that they had: these two were obviously part of GAIA.

They were the brothers he…and Yuri, and Siegfred and Vargos were seeking.

The fact that they had expected to find only one, not two, members of GAIA didn't cross his mind, for it made him all the gladder that he found more than expected.

For every man they freed from GAIA, the more his pack was strengthened, and unified.

"Xhar!" Siegfred said, embracing the red rogue after the droids in the room were nothing but oil-oozing pieces of scrap metal. "It's been too long."

"Same for you Siegfred."

"How did you escape?"

"It matters not" the spearman interjected. "We have to escape: the whole laboratory knows we have escaped. We have to get out of here. Now."

"Agreed Jin."

The blindfolded Jin stared his way towards Ferin, who was quickly approaching the group. "Who is he?"

"Ferin."

"I don't a recall a Ferin."

Xhar nodded his head in agreement. "Not like I care though. He's a good swordsman."

"Much appreciated…Xhar" Ferin said slowly, doing his best to pronounce the odd name.

"Let's get going!" Siegfred ordered the party of six. "We don't have exactly a lot of time. SeeD may be down here any minute."

"SeeD?" Xhar questioned. He may have been in hibernation for four years, but he still remembered that SeeD, and Balamb were his friends. "What has happened?"

"No time to explain. Let's go."

The five other warriors agreed eagerly, nodding their heads in a solemn motion. Xhar and Jin, however, were very unnerved by this recent revelation and they secretly sworn to themselves to find out what has happened after everything was over with.

They retraced their steps, following an invisible mental path through the laboratory. Many times they got lost, and they began to fear they would never find their way out. But their hope did not disperse, and the Warriors eventually felt the humid air of the Training Grounds on their skin again.

Some of the Warriors, Vargos and Yuri in particular, would have celebrated the return to the surface with loud noise and shouts if Ferin hadn't foreseen the possible situation beforehand and already began to order them back towards the main halls of Balamb.

The halls of Balamb were in complete disarray: shattered statues littered the ground, guards and instructors running left and right to try and figure out just what was going on, and students were trying their best to find their places in the series of chaos. None challenged the Six Warriors as they made their way to the second floor, to the balcony and made an end to their not so swift and silent campaign against Balamb.

In hours they made their way back to Alladra, who was still gagged and tied in the secret cove. And a few hours after that, with Alladra in their company, they made their way to the ship, and set sail for their next destination: the only place those of GAIA could call home.

The snowy mountains of Trabia.