Chapter 9 -- Bring on the Cavalry!
"I'm telling you, man, with these hands o' mine, I can kill someone with one blow. Bam! Just like that."
"Zell, I don't care how hard you hit them, you still have to get close enough. Now with a bullet, you can be yards away and kill them in one shot. And they don't get close enough to touch you."
Zell and Irvine were lounging about Irvine's dorm room, shooting the breeze as Irvine cleaned his gun. Their conversation had somehow turned into a debate over who had the better weapon: Zell's fists or Irvine's rifle.
"But with that gun, you don't have to have any strength. You can be as wimpy as a girl," Zell pointed out. "Now, with your fists, you have to work out every day, and be really manly."
"Maybe," Irvine replied, "but chicks really dig the gun."
"You mean Selphie really digs the gun."
"Most chicks do," Irvine defended. "I just happen to have picked the best one. And it's not like I see any chicks falling over you!"
Zell's face turned a bright, angry shade of red. He was trying to come up with a retort when the door burst open and a very breathless Selphie and Quistis burst into the room.
"TV…News…Explosion…Esthar….BOOM!" Selphie gasped, trying to catch her breath.
Irvine gazed at her a moment, then turned to Quistis. "What the heck is she trying to say?"
Quistis leaned back against the doorframe, struggling to catch her own breath. "We were…watching TV….and a news bulletin….came on." She paused to gasp again. "There was….an explosion…at the Presidential Palace…in Esthar…at the treaty signing….where Squall and Kylah are!"
Irvine jumped to his feet from his place on the floor, forgetting his gun. "Is everyone okay? Was anyone hurt?"
Selphie shook her head, finally calming down some. "They didn't have any information," she wailed. "Oh, I hope they're okay."
Irvine moved over and pulled her into his arms. She buried her face into his shoulder and he smoothed her hair down on the back of her head. "I'm sure they're okay," he said to her, softly.
An overhead chime interrupted their conversation, and Cid's voice came over the intercom. "Quistis Trepe, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, and Selphie Tilmitt, please report to my office immediately. Repeat, Quistis, Zell, Irvine, and Selphie, please report to my office immediately."
All four of them looked at each other, then fled down the corridor toward the elevator to the third floor.
Minutes later, they arrived in Cid's office and pounced on their headmaster, all speaking at once.
"We just heard what happened!"
"What's going on?"
"Have you heard anything?"
"Are Kylah and Squall okay?"
Cid held up his hands. "Woah, woah! All of you sit. I'll explain the whole situation."
They all quickly grabbed a chair and looked at him expectantly.
Folding his hands on his desk in front of him, Cid began. "I just received a call from Kylah in Esthar –"
"So she and Squall are okay?" Selphie interrupted.
Cid shot her a reprimanding look, and she quieted down. "Kylah is fine," he assured them. "Just fine."
Irvine gave him a considering look. "I notice that you said Kylah is fine. What about Squall."
He sighed, a serious look on his face. "Squall was injured during the explosion. According to Kylah, it's rather serious."
Everyone looked at one another, concern on all of their faces.
"Galbadia is blaming Esthar for the attack, and Esthar wants to know who was really behind it. President Loire of Esthar wants to employ SeeD to find out who initiated this attack and to 'take care' of the situation. Kylah has requested that the four of you depart immediately for Esthar to join her there for further instruction and briefing.
"You all have thirty minutes to pack. President Loire is sending the Ragnarok for you immediately, and it should be here shortly."
He looked around, stopping his gaze to look each one of them in the eye. "I know that this is an official SeeD assignment, but this is personal as well. One of our own was a casualty in this attack. I'm trusting all four of you to find out who is behind it and handle it as you see fit."
They all nodded, understanding his meaning.
"We'll track them down, pin 'em to the wall, then shoot 'em in the face with a bazooka!" Selphie interjected with her usual enthusiasm, drawing groans from the others.
"You heard the man," Irvine added. "Let's do it!"
Laguna sat comfortably back in his desk chair, hands laced behind his head and feet crossed and propped up on his desk. He was gazing thoughtfully out the window over the city, completely forgetting about the pile of work that had appeared on his desk in the wake of the attack.
Suddenly, he was a prisoner in his own home. He preferred to be out and about among the people, putting on a cheerful face to keep up morale in times like these. Kiros, Ward, and Kylah had all ganged up on him, though, and had declared it unsafe for him to leave the palace until they knew who was behind the attack. So, he was resigned to trying to get caught up on paperwork in his office.
He glanced at the phone on his desk, willing it to ring. He was hoping and praying that a nurse from the medical clinic would call him and tell him that Squall had regained consciousness. Briefly, he considered calling the nurses, but rejected that idea. Since he had called only fifteen minutes before, he thought that the nurses might get a little tired of hearing his voice.
Sighing, he reached over and picked up his picture of Raine. Staring into her ever smiling eyes, he found himself more lonely for her than he had felt in a long time.
"Raine," he said to the picture, "your husband is the biggest idiot and jerk that ever walked the planet. I was given a wonderful opportunity to get to know our kid, and I might have blown my last chance!"
He could almost smell her perfume and feel her standing behind him, her hand resting comfortingly on his shoulder.
You didn't know that it might be your last chance.
"Yeah," he said, "but after what happened to you, I should know that any chance could be the last one."
Well, it did always take you a little longer to learn some lessons. Don't worry. I'm sure everything will be fine.
"I wish you could see him, Raine. He looks a lot like you," he paused, considering. "He's a lot more anti-social than you, though."
I can see him, Laguna. And I'm as proud of him as you are. He reminds me a lot of you.
"Nah. He's smarter, stronger, and braver than his old man," Laguna said, pride in his voice.
You should tell him how proud you are of him.
"What if I don't get that chance?"
You will, Laguna. You will.
"Are you sure?"
I'm sure. Just relax. And trust me.
Kylah lay on a couch in her suite, arms crossed over her head and staring blankly at the ceiling. She had excused herself from Laguna's office a few minutes earlier so that she could clear her head before her friends arrived. After stopping briefly in the medical clinic to peek in on Squall (and making the nurses swear to call her the minute there was any change), she had retreated to her quiet, calm suite of rooms.
As much as she tried to clear her head, thoughts kept tumbling through her brain. She struggled to get those thoughts to focus into an organized fashion, but for some reason she seemed unable to accomplish even this simple task. With a sigh, she admitted that she just wasn't herself.
Cursing silently, she jumped up off of the couch and began pacing the room. She was angry with herself. By all outward appearances, this change in assignment seemed straightforward and simple: find the culprit behind the attack, and keep the president safe. Why, then did it feel so complicated?
Because you're making it complicated by allowing your emotions to cloud your judgment, she chided herself. Realizing the source of the problem, she sat down to try to sort out her emotions. She picked up a notepad that was lying on the coffee table and began jotting down notes.
She decided to start with her job. Protect Esthar. Protect the president. Well, that's easy enough, she thought. What was hard about that? You just found out that the president is Squall's father. There was one complication. The person she was protecting was her partner's father. And her partner didn't know it.
There was another complication, one that she hadn't realized. She was a little surprised to realize that, deep down, she was angry with Laguna. Angry for waiting six years to tell Squall about his paternity. Angry for being a chicken for so long. Angry for withholding that important information from Squall for so long.
Why am I angry about that? She pondered this question for a long moment, refusing to admit the truth. Finally, she recognized that she may be able to hide from everyone else, but she couldn't hide from herself. I'm angry because he withheld that from Squall, and I've fallen for Squall.
Letting out a deep, long breath, she leaned far back into the couch cushions and rested the pad against her chest. When had she fallen for Squall? Didn't she dislike him? She thought about the events that had occurred since they had left Garden, reliving moments that she and Squall had shared together. She thought about their truce on the train, the nights they had worked together on preparing for the treaty negotiations. She remembered their heated sparring match in the cargo bay. She smiled as she remembered the dance they had shared at the ball, and the sweet kiss later that night.
Somewhere in all of that, she had fallen for him. Fat lot of good it does me, she thought, remembering the way he had reacted to their kiss. I guess he just doesn't feel the same way. She sighed, recognizing that there was nothing she could do about that situation until he regained consciousness.
Which brought her back to Laguna. She lifted up her pad to look at her notes, tapping the paper with her pen thoughtfully. As she sat there, thinking about it, she grew more and more angry. Finally, unable to contain herself any longer, she tore the paper off of the pad, tossed it in the wastebasket across the room, slammed the pad on the table, and stalked out of the suite to find Laguna.
Laguna was standing by the window in his office, looking longingly out over the city. It hadn't even been an hour since Kylah had confined him to the Palace (though for his own good), but he was already getting bored. Normally, he wouldn't mind staying in for a bit. Because he wasn't supposed to go out it suddenly became the one thing that he wanted to do.
"Laguna, man, you gotta stop thinking about it, or you'll drive yourself crazy," Kiros said from across the room where he was looking over some reports.
"…"
"Ward says you'll drive the rest of us crazy, too."
Laguna waved them off over his shoulder. "Nah, I'll be alright. Besides, it'll probably only be for a day or two, right?"
Kiros and Ward looked at each other then rolled their eyes. They had a feeling it would be a long few days.
Laguna looked up when the door to his office opened. He smiled when he caught sight of Kylah stalking through the door and in his direction. "Hey, Kylah, feeling bet- Ooof!"
His sentence was abruptly cut short when her fist connected with his stomach.
"What was that for?" he managed to wheeze, doubled over and clutching his abdomen. "I thought you were supposed to protect me, not kill me!"
Ward and Kiros exchanged another look. They weren't quite sure what do to. On one hand, Laguna was their buddy, and they thought they probably ought to help him. On the other hand, Kylah was an experienced SeeD and an expertly trained fighter. They weren't quite sure that military training that they hadn't used in over a quarter of a century would help them against a SeeD who was less than half their age.
Kylah placed her fists on her hips, and stared Laguna down. "Why did you wait six years to tell Squall that you are his father? Didn't you think that he had a right to know? That you should have told him as soon as you found out? Did it ever occur to you that you were cheating you both out of even more time together than you had already lost?"
Laguna closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his knee, fighting off waves of pain and nausea. Man, that girl had a heck of an arm. "Kylah," he finally said, not looking up at her, "why are you getting upset about this? Shouldn't this be between Squall and me?"
"I'm upset because….well, because…..Because I just am, alright?"
Finally recovering enough to regain his bearings, Laguna dragged himself to his feet, rubbing his stomach all the way. I am going to have an incredible bruise, he thought. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, fighting off another wave of nausea. Once it passed, he opened them again and looked straight into her blue eyes. "Are you upset because this affects Squall, and you care about what happens to him?"
"Of course I care about what happens to him!" she exploded. "He's my partner. We—"
"I'm not talking about a SeeD partnership," he interrupted. "I'm talking about how much you care about Squall as a person, not a partner."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she scoffed, looking away.
He reached over, grabbed her by the chin and gently pulled her gaze back toward him. "I think you do."
She was silent, a warm flush creeping up in her cheeks.
"I think," he continued, "that you've fallen for each other and don't want to admit it because it will complicate your mission."
Furious tears welled up in Kylah's eyes. She jerked away, crossed her arms over her chest and stomped over to look out the window. "You don't know what you're talking about," she finally said, angrily.
He chuckled. "Kid, it may have been a while since a woman has looked at me that way, but I do remember how a woman looks when she's in love with a man."
She still refused to look at him, concentrating hard on keeping her eyes on the city. "You're not playing fair."
"And sucker punching me in the gut was fair?" he asked, crossing his arms.
Finally turning around, she glared at him. "You deserved that."
"Maybe," he said. "But it still wasn't nice."
Kylah was silent for a moment. "Just promise me something? Promise me that you'll tell him, as soon as he wakes up?"
Laguna nodded. "First chance I have, I promise."
She started to reply, but was interrupted by the buzzing of the intercom on his desk. Kiros, finally feeling safe to move out of the protective corner that he and Ward had crawled to, stepped over to answer it.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Mr. Seagill, please let the President know that Ragnarok was just cleared to land on deck 5."
Laguna turned to Kylah. "Can I go with you to meet them?" he asked, hopefully.
She had to laugh. "You just want out of the Palace for a while," she accused.
He nodded enthusiastically. "Darn straight. Can I go?"
Shaking her head and laughing, Kylah replied. "Sure, why not. I'll subject you to Selphie for a while and you'll think twice about wanting out of this place again."
Kylah and Laguna stood side-by-side on the landing deck of the Esthar Airstation, watching as the Ragnarok entered the Station and prepared to land on the deck. Kylah shielded her eyes and looked up into the sky at the massive ship.
"Wow," she breathed. "That is a beautiful ship!"
Laguna nodded, smiling proudly. "Yep, she sure is! Squall wanted to keep her after the battle with Ultimecia, but I wouldn't let him. I just couldn't part with her."
She chuckled as she watched Ragnarok gently came down and rested on the deck with barely a thump. She was impressed; the pilot was very good.
The back hatch slid down allowing it's passengers to disembark. No one appeared immediately, which caused concern for Kylah. They had come, hadn't they?
She and Laguna heard her comrades before they saw them. Unable to keep a smile from her face, she felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders when she heard her friend's voices coming out of the Ragnarok.
"Selphie, did you have to throw the pilot out of his seat? I mean, the poor guy was just trying to do his job!"
"I haven't flown this baby in forever! Besides, I was piloting her long before he even thought about it!"
"Sefie, that was cute and all, but a little unnecessary."
They all appeared on the exit ramp, arguing vehemently over Selphie's piloting job a few minutes ago, completely oblivious to the world around them. "Hey, you guys wanna stop fighting?" Kylah called. "Or do I have to ask Cid to send someone else?"
Spotting Kylah standing on the edge of the deck, Selphie squealed and broke into a run. She threw her arms around her friend, and hugged her fiercely. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she cried. She pulled back, holding Kylah by her shoulders. "You are alright, aren't you? You aren't just saying that?"
"Selph, I'm fine, really. Hey, guys," she greeted the rest of them.
Irvine stepped over to give her a gentler, brotherly hug. "You okay, K?" he asked.
She sighed and nodded. "It's been an incredibly long day, but I think I'll survive."
Quistis and Zell each took a turn hugging her, also. "We were worried when we heard about the attack," Quistis said, squeezing her friend's shoulders tightly. "Thank Hyne you reported back to Cid so quickly. We might have gone crazy wondering!"
Selphie looked around the deck, and spotted Laguna standing nearby, out of the commotion. Her eyes lit up and she ran to him, throwing her arms around his waist. "Sir Laguna! I'm glad you're okay, too!"
Laguna blushed. "Uh, thanks, Selphie…." He mumbled, obviously embarrassed by the display. Maybe he should have stayed back at the palace.
"C'mon, Selphie," Zell said, prying her off of him. "Let the poor man breathe! He's had a rough enough day, what with someone trying to kill him and all."
"We don't know that, Zell," Kylah interjected. She closed her eyes briefly. Dear Hyne was she tired. "We really don't know yet who was behind the attack, and why they did it."
Irvine noted the amount of fatigue written on Kylah's face. "Come on," he said, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "It's obviously been a long day for you, and it's not about to end soon. Let's get over to the palace so you can brief us and get us up to speed on this mission."
"First thing's first," Quistis interrupted. "What happened to Squall, and how is he?"
"Speaking of," Kylah replied, looking at her watch. She knew that the nurses had promised to call her with a report soon. She sighed. "Has it really only been a little over three hours since the attack?" she asked Laguna.
Laguna scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know, it seems longer."
She turned back to Quistis. "Let's all head over to the palace now, and I'll bring you up to date on Squall's condition. I'm due for a report from the doctor and nurses in a few minutes, anyway."
Nodding, everyone headed toward a nearby presidential vehicle that was sitting nearby, ready to whisk them off to the Palace.
Kylah, Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, and Zell all stepped quietly into the medical clinic a little while later. Kylah looked at the others, a finger pressed to her lips.
"We're only supposed to go in two at a time," she whispered. "We'll have to sneak by the nurses if we all want to get in at once."
The rest of them nodded silently, and all crept behind Kylah toward Squall's door. They had nearly reached it when a voice behind them stopped them all in their tracks.
"Freeze!" called an authoritative female voice.
Guiltily, they all turned around and faced a very pretty nurse with a stern expression on her face.
"You can't all go in there together," she admonished them. "The doctor said two at a time!"
Kylah stepped forward. "Look," she began, "these guys are just like family to him. He'd want them all in there with him. Can't we please go in for just a few minutes?"
The nurse sighed and looked them all over. They were all giving her pleading looks. Finally, she relented. "Okay, a few minutes. But don't tell the doctor. And if he catches you, I didn't give you permission." With that, she turned and walked away.
The group gave each other smiles of congratulations. Kylah then reached over, turned the knob of the door, and stepped into the room.
They were all silent as they entered the room and surrounded Squall's bed. He looked pale against the white sheets, his breathing very shallow. Kylah stood near the head of his bed, and looked over the many monitors that he was hooked up to.
"He looks awful," Selphie whispered. "Even worse than he did when we busted him out of the D-District prison that time."
Kylah turned from the monitors and looked down at him. She felt a gentle tugging at her heartstrings and tenderness welled up inside her. "He actually looks a lot better than he did," she said, softly. "And his vitals are starting to stabilize."
"If he looks better," Zell commented, "I'd hate to have seen him a while ago."
"It's funny," Quistis mused. "You always think of Squall as being invincible. He would be the last of us I would have imagined in this position."
Irvine remained silent. He wasn't looking at Squall, but covertly watching Kylah. He had known her since she was thirteen, and was like a brother to her. Of anyone there, he probably knew her best.
And he had a feeling that something was going on.
Maybe it was the way she looked down at Squall. Maybe it was the softness in her voice. Whatever it was, it made him think. Made him wonder….
"Come on," Kylah interrupted his thoughts. "I have a lot to tell you guys. The nurses have promised to call me if there's any change."
Silently, somberly, they all filed out of the room.
"So, Commander," Irvine said, propping his feet up on the coffee table in the suite that Kylah and Squall had been occupying. "Give us the dirt."
"Commander?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Selphie interjected. "With Squall obviously out of commission, you've just been bumped up to leader of this mission. Congratulations!"
She sat back into the couch, allowing this to sink in. "I knew that," she said, "but I guess it just didn't register until now." She shook her head as if to clear it. "Well, I guess my first order of business as the mission commander is to brief all of you as to the status of the mission.
"The negotiation of the peace treaty was actually a success," she began. "All details had been ironed out, and all parties were ready to sign. When the bomb went off, all of that literally blew up in our faces. Galbadia is under the impression that Esthar was behind the attack, and have pulled out of the treaty and are arming themselves for battle. President Loire vehemently denies that Esthar was involved. He's commissioned SeeD to find out who is really behind the attack, and why."
She paused, then continued. "Esthar is in no shape to fight a war against Galbadia at this point. Though it's been six years since the Lunar Cry, Esthar took incredible casualties at that time. They simply haven't had a chance to fully recover. Laguna is fearful of what a Galbadian invasion could mean for Esthar. It's our job to stop it before it happens.
"I'll be staying here in Esthar to command the mission, and, more importantly, to see to the President's personal security. At this point, we're running under the assumption that the assailant was after President Loire, President Caraway, or both. President Loire, naturally, is concerned about his personal security. I've promised him that I would personally see to that."
She turned to Quistis and Zell, who were sitting side-by-side on one couch. "I want the two of you to head to Deling City. Poke your noses around, see what you can find out. A lot of travelers go through Deling City, and someone may know something. If you can't find anything out there, move on to Timber. There's a lot of underground activity in Timber, so there's a very high chance you'll get some information out of someone there."
Next, she switched her attention to Irvine and Selphie. "You two are heading to Dollet. Same situation. Poke your noses around, see what kind of dirt you can dig up. After you're finished in Dollet, head to Fisherman's Horizon."
She looked around the room. "Send regular reports to me, calling in often. Once you've exhausted all possibilities in those cities, report back here." She stopped. "Any questions?"
"Yeah," Zell interjected. "If we do find out who's behind it, what do we do?"
She sent him a steady look. "Our client, President Loire, has authorized us to diffuse the situation by whatever means we deem necessary."