A/N: yay! Five reviews! Im so happy! I'll need to get writing soon, i already have 3 chapters writen in advanced. . Please enjoy! Also, review! Thankies!
Where was Seifer? Who was that woman? Amaya had alot on her mind, just as someone burst through the emergency exit. "Sefier was just here!" Rinoa said, running to them, her eyes scanning the room wildly, "Where is he?" "Some woman took him" Selphie said scratching her head. Rinoa looked towards the ground and sighed, "He'll be alright, I know it."
Rinoa looked up and said "Well, the base is destroyed. Galbadian soilders must have found it or something. No use going back" "What about everyone else? Zone and Watts, are they okay?" Marriku asked. "Yeah, i dont know where they are. But they are pretty good at escaping" Rinoa said. The party, now with 7 members headed outside of the TV station, and towards the back alley. "I wonder who that woman was..." Amaya said, as they entered the smokey bar. "The ambassador?" Selphie suggested.
"Who knows..." Marriku said, sighing. They went through the entrance of the bar and up the stairs, a woman came out of the comfortable looking house. She had a white bandannd wrapped around her head, that hid most of her chestnut brown hair. "Cheif?" Rinoa said, running towards her. "Rinoa, I heard what happened to your base. If you'd like, you can stay at my house," She said, motioning for them to come in. They entered and came into a little kitchen.
"Thanks alot Cheif" Rinoa said, sitting at the table. "Why dont you guys go rest upstairs? you looked pretty tired. They all nodded and trudged upstairs. There were two children in the room and a small bed. Squall and Marriku sat at the bed, Rinoa and Amaya plopped down on the wooden ground and Quistis, Selphie and Zell stood. "So who is that woman anyways?" Quistis asked. "Well, in Timber, mostly everyone is part of a resistance group and Cheif is the leader of the 'Forrest Fox.' Shes helped the Forrest Owls out alot." Rinoa replyed, leaning against the bland green looking wall.
Amaya sighed and said, "I wonder where that woman took Seifer. Quistis, did Seifer tell you anything? or did you just follow him here?" "I had no choice but to follow him, Headmaster Cid ordered me to. He was pretty worried about Rinoa," Quistis said. Every eye was on Rinoa. "How do you two even know each other?" Squall said, not caring to look at her. "We met last summer," Rinoa said defensively, "We also talked at the ball. He was really interested to hear about the Forrest Owls."
They heard loud rappings at the door, and they heard a gruff voice say, "Is anybody in there?" Cheif came through the door of the little room and said, "Hide! Galbadian soilders are at the door, try not to make any noises!" She ran back down the stairs. Amaya breathed heavily and rested her head against the wall and sighed. They heard commotion comming from downstairs and the door slam shut. Cheif came back up and said, "They're gone. You should try and find a way out of the city, theres soliders everywhere."
"What should we do? Trains arent going anywhere near Balamb" Selphie said, jumping up. "Well, in the Garden code, it says if we cant go to our assigned Garden, we should head to the nearest Garden. Which is Galbadia Garden." Quistis said. "How far away is that?" Rinoa asked. "we have to take a train here to a place called East Acadamy. Then we have to go through some forrest area, but then the Garden wont be far away." Quistis said.
The team headed downstairs and Rinoa said to Cheif, "Thanks for letting us stay here." "Take these, just in case" Cheif said, handing them potions, Antidotes and Remedies. "Thank you" Amaya said quietly as they headed out of the house. The train station was upahead. They headed foreword, Amaya noticing an old man comming their way. "Rinoa!" He said. He didnt sound young at all, he sounded just like that kid. "Zone! your alive!" Rinoa said, almost embracing him. "Theres one train heading out of here, i got you guys some tickets." He said, pulling them out of his vest pocket. "5 for the seeDs" he said, giving them to Squall. "One for you" He said to Rinoa, "And one for me." Quistis stood empty handed.
Zone looked down sadly at his ticket and forced it into her hands and said "Take it, you need it more than me anyways." "I cant accept this" Quistis said solemnly. "Just take it! the train is about to leave!" he said, walking away from them. "We'll meet again one day!" Rinoa called to him, smiling, her eyes were glossy. They headed towards the train and entered, everyone looked pretty tired. "The train bound for East Acadamy is now departing" a cool voice came from the loud speakers.
"Open up!" Selphie squeaked, close to the sliding doors that led towards the cabin. 'God, her and her love for trains...' Amaya thought, but should couldnt help but smile. Selphie ran in as soon as Squall used the tickets on the control panel. She ran towards the rows of windows and squeed as the train lurched out of the station and into the grassy hillside. Amaya yawned and headed towards the cabin. She entered and sat tiredly on the worn couch inside the room. Marriku entered as well. "I've been thinking," She said, leaning against the bunk beds placed in the corner. "How are we going to get out of this world? Once the game ends, what will happen?" "I have no clue..." Amaya said. "I've been trying to come up with some awnser" Marriku said, sitting down just as Rinoa, Quistis and Zell came in.
Zell jumped up onto the top bunk and quistis sat on the couch and Rinoa laid on the bottom bunk. Amaya rested her head back and tried to sleep. She shifted uncomfortable, the weight of Marriku's question still fresh in her mind. How would they get out, What if the game ended and they just disapeared? Where was her real body right now? She sighed and stood up, walking out of the cabin and towards the windows. Selphie was humming excitedly. They were comming into more dry areas, the grass turning into blades of brown and cracked sandy land.
The train was slowly stopping, an annoucment blaring over the loudspeakers "East Acadamy Station. Next Stop, Dollet." "Well, we better go!" Selphie said, jumping up. They headed outside and waited for the other, Selphie was tinkering with the chain on her nunchaku. One they all regrouped, Quistis pointed to a large woodsy area, which was the only green site for a while. "Thats the forrest. If we just cross through, Galbadia wont be far ahead." They trudged toward the forrest, Amaya felt a little lightheaded. It was probally the heat, she wiped away sweat that had gathered on her forehead. She hadnt had any water for a long time, either, so it could be dehydration. When they got into the greenery.
Selphie stopped, a slightly worried look on her face. "What if the Galbadian Governement arrests us or something and broadcast it to the whole world?" Amaya hadnt heard the hyper girl talk so serious before. Zell stomped his foot angrily on the ground. "If something happens, it happens. Its all my fault anyways! I told them that we are all from garden, they could do something." Zell nervously turned to Squall and continued, "You dont think they will retaliate on garden? do you?"
"Maybe" Squall said, looking hot and frustrated. "We've got seeD. But what if they cant hold back the soliders?" "Depends on how strong the army is" Squall replyed. "I know..." Zell started, but then Rinoa stomped her foot. "Oh your a GREAT leader arent you? Do you like doing this to your comrades?" Amaya rolled her eyes at her. Why was she being so mean to Squall? What, because he said her stupid group was unorganized? Face the damn facts! She thought angrily. "Zell wants you support, Dont you ever think about the well-being of your comrades?" She continued, her face flushed with anger. Amaya glanced at Marriku, who had a sour look on her face. She could see her kunckles white from her fists clenching on the handles of her Katanas.
"Dont you understand?" Rinoa said softly, almost calming down. Squall had suddenly turned pale, his eyes looking distant. "Are you listening to me?" She screeched. He placed his pale hand to his forehead and collapsed to the ground. Marriku and Selphie ran to his side, Rinoa scaredly standing back, as if this was her fault. Quistis backed up against a tree and placed her hand over her eyes and fell back, unmoving. Amaya fell to her knees. This same sensation from before. She closed her eyes tightly and blacked out.
Laguna, Kiros and Ward stood on a rocky hillside that looked down on a factory. "You sure this is the right place?" Ward asked, shouldering his harpoon. "Im pretty sure" Kiros said, his chesnut eyes scanning the distance. "I dont want to be patroling the wrong place like we did last time" Ward continued. The raven haired Laguna looked down and the map and sighed and said, "Brought the wrong map."
He looked down at the factory just as Ward and Kiros groaned. "Somehow, i have a bad feeling about this" Laguna said, putting the useless map into one of his pockets. "Well, we are on duty, so lets just go check things out." He said, rasing his gun and heading down the hill, his 2 comrades following. They walked onto a metal mesh bridge that led deeper into this factory. They watched as piles of rocks were carried into the factory by a converbelt."Seriously, this place is strange...What the heck would they be using so man of these rocks for? Maybe tombstones?" "Who knows," Kiros said, "Or cares." "Yeah, you've been acting werid lately. Why are you running around so strange?" Ward asked suspeciously.
"Strange? What do you mean strange? Im being cautious!" He said, looking behind them. He seen some people comming from the hill they were just on. "We got company..." He said, as they turned around. The people were soilders, with blades for weapons. They had horriblely bright white and blue uniforms. "Esthar Soilders...Still wearing those flashy uniforms" Laguna said. They came close to them, another group of soilders cornering them from the other side. Kiros squinted at them. "Laguna...?" Ward said, not knowing what to do. "Dont be such a weenie! Sett-What the?" One of the flashy soliders pounced at Laguna with his blade.
Laguna raised his gun and shot three times, the soilder still not going down. Kiros attacked with his hand-blades and Ward starting swinging his harpoon to attack the soilders. Two soilders went down and They attacked the other soilders. Laguna shot at the other soliders, one slashed at his face and Kiros attacked. When the soilders fell, Kiros said, "wasnt our mission just to patrol?"
"Why does it have to turn out like this?" Ward said, flicking the blood off of his harpoon. "Seriously...! I wasnt expecting this at all!" Laguna laughed. "Damn, Theres more comming! Lets make a run for it!" Ward said, pointing towrads a fork in the metal mesh bridge. They ran towards the right and jumped down the hole inside. "Why Does it always have to turn out like this" Kiros said as they ran down another bridge, entering another area. The walls looked covered in ice. Laguna bent down and picked up a key. He put it in hsi pocket and said, "Hey...wait, i have a hole in my pocket!" And the key swiftly fell out.
They team headed towards the north, taking a icy slop uphill and came upon a giant iceball. "I wonder what this is for" Ward said, rubbing his hands against the cold surface. "Look at this.." Laguna said, bending down and picking up a metal object. "A Detonater?" Kiros asked, comming closer. "We should press a button" Laguna said excitedly. There was two buttons, one blue and one red. "The blue one must mean its close and the red one means its far away. So there must be two things to blow up." He pressed the blue one. They sprinted towards the stairs set they had seen above and dove towards it, hiding in the safety of the stairwell.
When they looked out, nothing happened. "I didnt even feel anything" Ward said. "Lets just see where these stairs take us" Laguna said, heading up. They came to another set of stairs and they climbed up, reading a cliff. Below were a few boats and vessels, and a rush of sea air from the water. They were then cornered by Esthar soilders. "Dont tell me.." Laguna Began. "Of all the worst possible..." Kiros said. "Predicaments?" Ward finished. Laguan raised his gun and Ward aimed his harpoon towards one of the skinny soliders. Kiros ran up and started attacking with his blades, Laguna firing at the soilders. When one last solider was left, he raised his blade and said "Soul Crush!" in a raspy but small voice. He attacked Kiros and Ward, then fell to the ground and died, they both shouted out in pain.
When the soliders were finally all dead, the three comrades fell to the stone of the cliff. Kiros and Ward were hurt pretty badly. "Look!" Laguna said, barely having the strength to point below, "The ocean...Were saved! Lady luck is on our side! We can go to Galbadia!" "One would say we've been run down...thats what they'd normally say." Kiros said. "Dont say that, it might come true. Didnt you grandmother tell you that?" Laguna said. "If you say something bad, it will come true. Yeah, she told me that."
"Gggghhh...rrrhhhh..." Ward said, his voice damaged. "What?" Laguna asked, his eyebrow raised. "Somethings wrong with his throat, i think hes losing his voice." Kiros informed. "It...wa...fu...yo...guys..." He spat out. "Ward, that's way uncool. It's not a cool to say things like that. Just for that, you're getting' the Cuchi-Cuchi treatment! How's that, huh? Want more? Well? " Laguna said, getting up. Ward was silent. "...WHOA! A boat! check it out! we've got to get on!" Laguna said, jumping up. "A vessel..." Kiros said. "Whatever, we're going back to Galbadia!"
Laguna lifted up Kiros and threw him off the cliff, smiling at his handy work. He picked up Ward and threw him down next. "Heh, you guys sure have guts! You know how high this cliff is!" Laguna said nervously, as he prepared himself for the drop. He sat down and pulled himself down, one had slipping on the cliff. "Oh...Shi! No way!...AHHHH!" He screamed as he fell into the waters below.
Amaya opened her eyes and looked around. Still on the grassy forrest floor. It looked like she was the first one to awaken. "Welcome back" Selphie said. Amaya lifted herself up. "Was it Laguna again?" Marriku asked curiuosly. "Yep. I hope hes okay...He freaking threw Kiros and Ward off a cliff and fell off himself!" Amaya said, smiling. Squall and Qustis began to awake. "So we're all awake...I guess we can head on then," Squall said, regaining his balance. Right away, he took the leader role.
They party started to head through the forrest. "Um, Squall? Im sorry, I think i might have said too much," Rinoa said, sincerely. After finding their way through the hot forrest, they emerged. This area was dry and sandy. In front of them was the garden. It was a deep, crimson color and look almost alike Balamb Garden.
They headed towards the entrance, students were milling around the entrance of the garden, which was a long cement walk-way. As soon as they headed towards the turnstiles to enter the school, Quistis said, "I know the headmaster pretty well, so ill go and tell him our situation." They all nodded. Quistis headed through while the others entered a waiting area. The large black and white galbadia symbol was painted on the floor, a beam of light shining through the center. Amaya leaned against the railing and Marriku said, "hey, wait a second. They are going to think we know this garden..." Marriku said nervously.
"How many times have we played the game? we only have to go to that stupid reception room, so it will be peachy keen" Amaya said. An annoncment came through the intercom. "Attention. Balamb Garden Party, please wait in second floor reception room." Squall came up and said, "You guys should know where to go." "eeehhh, heh heh, yeah, sure!" Marriku said, putting on a smile.
Squall, Selphie and Zell followed Marriku and Amaya towards the north hallway, and up a set of stairs. They entered into a room which was guarded by some heavy looking fellow. They entered. It was a fancy looking room, which looked like it was used for only special occasions. There was an expensive looking glass table surrounded by white leather couches. A desk and cabinent was pushed into the corner. Selphie ran towards the window which looked down upon the other areas of the garden.
Marriku and Amaya settled themselves on the couch with Selphie, Zell paced nervously and Squall stood, wordless and Rinoa sat on the other couch. "Did Quistis go to classes here?" She thought outloud. "How long are they going to make us wait?" Zell said, his voice shaking with nervousness. Right on cue, Quistis entered the room. "So, how did it go?" Squall asked. She rubbed hre forehead and said, "Well, he understands. At least Galbadia isnt taking it out on Garden." Zell blew out a sigh of relief, "They classified it as a independent action." "So basicly Seifer is taking all the blame?" Zell asked, now looking relieved.
"The trial is over," Quistis said grimly "And the sentance has been carried out." Amaya knew what she meant. She looked at Rinoa's shocked face. "He...was executed?" She said in disbelief. "of course...he did attack the president. He did it for us." she sniffed. "Dont think of it as Seifer sacrificing himself for you. He must have been prepared for the worst, and so have you." Quistis said. There was a moment of silence before Quistis said, "Im sorry, I Guess that wasnt much consolation. I dont really have any good memories of him. But he wasnt a bad guy."
" I really liked him. I enjoyed talking to him, he always listened. Just by talking to him, I felt likeI could take on the world" She said, staring off into space. "Was he your boyfriend?" Selphie asked from the window. Rinoa smiled, not out of joy but sadness, and said, "I dont really know, I think i was in love. Ill never know how he felt..." "So, do you still like him?" Selphie inquired. "If i didnt, i wouldnt be talking about him. We met last summer, we had a good time together. I have lots of fond memories of him."
"I didnt like the guy...But executed?" Zell said solemnly. "You really hated Seifer. Didnt you, Zell?" Selphie asked. God Selphie, stop asking stupid questions. Even thou i dont really like her, its hurting Rinoa's feelings Amaya thought as she glanced at the girl. She was still staring into space and her eyes were blank. "I did. But he was one of us." Zell said. Amaya glanced at Squall who looked distant. His eyes clenched in anger.
"I wont have it!" He shouted. "What are you talking about?" Zell said, his eyebrow raised. "are you MAD?" Selphie said. Amaya was ready to punch her. "I Wont have anyone talk about me in the past tense!" Squall said, running out through the sliding doors.