Author's Notes: Thank you for the comments everyone. 3 Here is the next chapter and I hope you all enjoy it.
Maybe I'm A Lion
Chapter Three
Tales of Traverse Town
Upon re-entering the hotel, Squall followed Aerith and Yuffie back down the hallway that he had scurried out not even a half an hour ago. He walked a few steps behind them, watching as they passed simple conversation between them as if he weren't even there. They talked about things that were happening around the town and how a store's business was doing. Basic things that didn't seem too out of place or out of this world from normal individuals.
Stopping in front of a door that was the one next store to the room he awoke in, Aerith pushed it opened slowly and stepped inside. "I found him Cid." She called to someone inside.
As Squall entered the room behind Yuffie, he let his eyes wander quickly. There was a similar balcony to the room before, although the doors were closed tightly. The room was different shades of green, with a much simpler bed off in the corner. In the center of the room, there was a small wooden table that had four chairs and four cups of warm tea sitting awaiting their return.
In one of the chairs, sat the man Squall must have heard earlier. He was a strong gruff looking older man. His clothes were simple; a white tee shirt with a large, oddly shaped belt about his waist. He wore blue pants with a pair of combat boots that looked well-worn in. Around his neck, he had a small pendant and in-between his lips, a toothpick sat.
Looking over at the two young women and Squall, he let a small smile come to his lips, "Ah. Thought you could run off without say goodbye," he taunted, rising wearily from his seat. Walking around the table as Aerith and Yuffie moved to be seated, he extended his hand to Squall, "The name is Cid. Cid Highwind." He told, grasping his hand tightly.
"Squall Leonhart. It's a pleasure," Squall returned the introduction with a slight nod to his head.
"Take a seat boy," Cid nodded, moving his hand towards the table. "I would suggest taking the seat offer," he turned and headed back to his place, "You won't like what we have to say." He grumbled under his breath, as if he didn't want his words heard.
But Squall remained firm in his spot, ignoring the comments made by the man. His piercing blue eyes looked at each person who sat at the table with question. They all wore somewhat vague expressions, though their eyes seemed to tell their true emotions. Behind each color set was a vision of fear. A familiar fear he had seen only once before.
Aerith lifted the small china cup to her lips, taking in some of the warm honey-flavored liquid. Swallowing lightly, she returned it to its saucer with a light clatter. "Squall," she began, her eyes focused on the cup on the table, "Do you remember what happened before you woke up here?" she asked, her voice soft, but business-like.
The question caught the young commander off guard. Raising his hand to his chin, he thought back. "It was only a few hours ago," he told, puzzled by the girl's question. Running his hand through his hair slightly, Squall looked back into his thoughts briefly, clawing for a clear answer, "It was the SeeD graduation ball. The power had suddenly gone out and we were trying to get the people out of the garden ball area as calmly as possible. I was just about to leave when I felt this sharp stabbing pain in my chest. And then,"
"You woke up here right?" Cid finished his sentence, causing the young man to nod.
The older man sighed, taking hold of the cup in front of him. Instead of a simple sip, he tilted his head back and threw the hot liquid down as if it were a shot of strong liquor. He shook his head out, though not a single hair moved out of place and looked over to the two women.
Yuffie returned the stare he gave her then turned to Aerith, "You tell him," she whispered quietly.
"Tell me what?" Squall found himself speaking boldly out of nowhere. "All I want to do is get out of here and back to Garden. Rinoa and the other must be worried as all hell by now." He explained quickly, trying to stress his desperation. "Please, I am grateful for your help. You've been more than generous to me. But I need to head home back to Balamb."
Cid hung his head, shaking it slowly. "You don't understand kid." He looked up at Squall, letting their eyes lock. "You can't go back."
Squall raised an eyebrow at the man's words. "What? What do you mean I can't go back?" he took a step back towards the door, unsure of how to react to his words.
"This isn't how this should be done Cid," Aerith told across the table, placing a hand to the man's.
"Hush Aerith," he growled, pulling his hand away. Rising to his feet, Cid placed his hands firmly on the table to support him. "The kid needs to know about what really happened that night. How it wasn't a few hours ago," he looked at Squall out of the corner of his eye, "It was week ago."
Stepping back a bit more, Squall watched as the two women tried to calm Cid down. What did he mean by him unable to leave? The thoughts passed through his mind of what their true intentions were. He knew Garden was attacked and he had blacked out. Perhaps these people were the ones who attacked them. For all he could figure, he was a hostage and these people were not about to let him leave.
As their pointless banter went back and forth, Squall slowly withdrew his weapon from his belt. If these people weren't going to tell him anything, then he would have to make a break for it to the nearest train station. That is, if he could find one. He felt himself moving slowly to the door, trying to move without being noticed.
Yuffie looked over to see the young man with his weapon drawn, moving slowly back from their group. There was a look of clouded hate forming deep within his stunning blue eyes. His hand adjusted on the hilt of his large, odd looking weapon as he licked his lips slightly. He was going to run.
"Hey, calm down Squall," she finally told, halting the arguing between Aerith and Cid, averting their eyes to the young man.
Extending his arm out, Squall pointed the gunblade down at the small group. He glared as his muscles tensed trying to hold up his weapon without showing a sign of lingering weakness. "It's Commander Leonhart to you." He growled angrily as he continued back towards the door. "I don't know what kind of game you are playing with me, but it's sick to play with your hostages like this."
"Hostage?" Aerith questioned, rising to her feet. "Squall, you've got it all wrong."
"You attacked Garden! You took me captive because I know military secrets." His arm staggered slightly, the weakness coming over him from before. But, he fought against it. He refused to fall victim to these people once more. "What did you do to me? Where are the others? What did you do to my home!"
Cid placed his hands up slightly in a calming manner, "Kid, ya gotta calm down. We didn't do anything to your home. It was something else. The Heartless invaded your world and destroyed it."
Squall felt his glare sharpen slightly at the man, turning his gunblade towards him, "Like I would believe you. Heartless? That's a pretty pathetic excuse for a name. " He had now moved back into the doorframe, knowing that his only exit was right down the hallway. All that needed to be done was to distract them.
"Your world is gone Squall!" a voice shouted finally, breaking his train of thoughts. He stared straight ahead at the young woman in pink, her eyes shimmering with what looked like the beginnings of tears. Aerith had a stern look upon her once calming face, causing Squall to lower his weapon slightly. "It's gone. Everything is gone."
"…I….I don't believe you." Squall muttered.
But the woman shook her head, "You saw nothing but darkness that night. You felt the claws of something on your skin."
"Stop it," he muttered, lowering his weapon all the way so that the tip touched the ground.
And yet, Aerith persisted on. She moved around the table slowly, her eyes locked with Squall's. "That night, you heard the screams of your friends around you. As if they were dying. That burning in your chest was strong and unbearable."
"Stop it!" Squall shouted, releasing his gunblade from his hand. The large sword clattered onto the floorboards as his hand began to tremble slightly. The woman's eyes were piercing through him. Though filled with the beginning of tears, she almost seemed like Edea on the night the first time they fought. Strong and cold, yet distant warmth in them.
Before he realized it, Aerith placed a hand to his cheek. "Squall, you were one of the lucky ones. When the heartless destroy a world, they rarely leave someone alive."
Squall's eyes widened as he felt her warm touch on his face, "What do you mean?"
"There was a reason you ended up here in Traverse Town. Why you didn't fall into the darkness." She muttered quietly. The tears had started to fall down the side of her face slowly as she kept her stare upon the commander. "I'm sorry….but everyone you knew is probably…" her voice trailed off. She couldn't hold her glaze anymore, looking to the floorboards as if they had suddenly become more interesting than anything else. She dropped her hand from his face, trying to recompose herself.
Squall looked down at Aerith as she lightly sobbed. Her words felt like poison in his ears. There was no way that he could believe her and this lie. Garden could not be gone. He felt his hands tremble and his stomach do back flips. The floor felt like a boat deck in a storm as he struggled keep his legs from giving out and himself from shouting aloud.
'No. This can't be true.' He thought to himself, 'This can't be true. Everyone can't be…'
His mind began to look back to the ballroom. How everyone he knew was standing about him, smiling and laughing. His father was there with his Ellone, who was talking to the headmaster. Seifer was keeping a close eye from the buffet where Zell pounded back the hot dogs. Quistis was trying to get Selphie to put down the video camera and Irvine hit on some of new recruits. And Rinoa was by his side, looking as beautiful as ever.
All of his thoughts of the war came flooding back to him. How hard he fought to keep his world alive and free from the sorceress. His fight between Seifer, trying to convince him that he had fallen to the wrong side. And how no matter how much he thought he did not need the others, they were behind him to support his fight. And how he always promised Rinoa that he would come back to her and never leave her side. No matter what.
"Hey kid," he heard Cid's voice call out through his thoughts. "Kid, I think you need to sit. You're as white as a ghost."
But the words were ignored. He felt himself stagger backwards and into the hallway and collided with the wall. Within his chest, his heart was racing as if it were to burst.
'Rinoa….everyone…' he looked back to the three faces who stood in the doorway, eyeing him carefully as if he were a frightened animal. 'You can't be gone.'
"Squall," Aerith started once more, moving out into the hallway, "I'm sorry I had to tell you like this." She began to reach out to him once more, "Please. Come back inside. We can explain everything without being so forward. We can tell you about the true enemy. Who you can hunt for your revenge if that's what you really want to do."
He had to get out of there. There was too much to take in. All he wanted to was run and try to find a place where he could get home. This had to be a lie and he was letting emotion get the better of him. Squall knew he was stronger than this and he knew that he could find his way back home.
"No. You're lying to me," he swatted away the woman's hand, startling her. "Just…get away from me. Leave me alone!"
And with that, he bolted from the small group to the exit. The screams for him to come back echoed out into the empty district as he looked around franticly to find a way to run. He couldn't head back to the main gate. He knew the ninja girl would know he would try there first. Looking about quickly, he saw the stairs that lead down to the lower plaza. There was no time to think. They would probably come looking for him.
Squall ran down the stairs and into the lower plaza. He headed towards the large town hall like building. As he hurried, there was a small side ally that looked like it hadn't been used in a while. His feet was doing all the thinking now. Before Squall realized what was left and what was right, he was running down the darkened back ally. Running around the corner, he was met with a smaller set of wooden doors that looked similar to the larger ones back in the main area. Without a moment of hesitation, he burst into the next area over.
This district was completely different from the last one. As he stumbled into the area, he noticed that he was at the top of a set of stairs that turned from the cobblestones to something different. A small abandoned house to his left with the stairs to his right. Walking towards the wall, he looked out at the area below him. The ground almost like a tiled checker board, though it was shades of off-set purples and grays. There were high walls that had different designs all about them. There were red banners hanging off the street lights that were off to the sides and hanging up on the walls. In the far corner, there was a strange fountain that was all aglow with ground lights. Off to the right, there was what looked to the central power area and a side path that seemed to lead up and around the fountain.
Taking in a deep breath, trying to regain what air he had lost from running, Squall moved down the stairs slowly. He held onto the railing tightly, trying to steady himself as he moved down to the tiled area. It almost looked like the people were setting up for a festival of sorts but it was interrupted by something.
Moving into the center of the area, Squall stopped in his tracks and looked up to the sky once more. It hadn't changed from the time he was last outside. He was surprised to see that it looked as if it was never going to change. His eyes darted about, looking at all the stars above his head in awe. He always loved looking up at them ever since he met Rinoa that night. Every time he saw a shooting star, he thought of her.
Squall focused on the brightest star in the sky and just watched it for a moment. The way it shimmered was almost abnormal for a star. Suddenly, there was a quick flash, making him shield his eyes. But, the instant ended suddenly. Looking back directly where he looked before, the star was gone; as if it has been swallowed up by the darkness of the night sky.
Stopping in the middle of the area, Squall closed his eyes. He was all alone without a true explanation as to what had happened to him. It was like after he fought Ultimacia all over again. He was wandering in a distant world and he could never be found again. In his mind, Squall found himself saying 'Don't cry you moron. You're tougher than that.' But in his heart, there was only a wrenching pain of loss.
A soft thud was heard as he dropped to his knees and threw his head into his hands. He didn't know what to think or how he should react. Aerith had said they could tell him how to live on and fight whatever had done this to him. But what would a girl like that know about fighting?
Light scurrying came to his ears, causing Squall to look up. The area was still around him. Not even a light breeze. Everything was silent, and it made him nervous. He had left his gunblade on the floor of the hotel, making him curse under his breath. Slowly rising to his feet, looked around him.
Small flat shadows were slowly encircling him, squirming on the ground like bugs that had just been stepped on. One by one, they started to rise into a three dimensional form, their bodies twitching slightly. They were simple creatures; all black with a single set of bright yellow eyes. Their ears perked up into a zigzag design, while their hands were small with tiny claws on the ends.
'These things,' Squall thought as he turned slowly around to see more coming out of the ground, 'They were those things that night.' His thoughts flashed back to that night. How he felt claws digging into his flesh and Rinoa's pain-filled screams. These creatures were the cause of all his pain. Glaring about, the young man tightened his hands into tight fists. Holding them up, he took a battle stance. He was never that great with his fists. Squall always left that to Zell. But now that his friend was gone, he hoped that he had gained something from him over the years.
The square had become full of at least fifty of the tiny monsters. That was Squall's estimate at least. There was no way he could handle all of these things with use his fists.
"Lighting!" A scream called out over the area. Bolts of electricity shot down from the heavens out of nowhere with a tremendous roar. The energy struck the heartless, destroying five of the small creatures.
Looking up to the top of the enterance way, he felt his eyes widen. Aerith stood at the railing's edge, a large metal staff posed in the air. Her eyes locked with his as she smiled slightly. "You okay Squall?" she shouted down to him.
"He will be," Cid called appearing at her side with Yuffie right behind, "Once he gets with back." With one might thrust of his arm, Squall watched as his gunblade was thrown into the air. The weapon spiraled down, colliding with the body of a heartless as the steel broke the ground below it. The small creature wisped and melted away into the air as his weapon showed no blood of any sort.
Nodded to the man in thanks, Squall grabbed the handle of his sword and withdrew it from the ground. He spun it around once, adjusting to the weight once more. Smiling, his face once again became stern as he charged forward into the creatures.
Aerith, Yuffie, and Cid watched in amazement at the commander's speed and grace. If one heartless was coming from behind, the blade would be there and then fast enough to be in front of him to kill off the next creature. He never faulted in his attacks, nor did he flinch. With every step and swing of the blade, they could tell he was very well trained.
Before it could be taken in, the area had been cleared of the creatures. As the final smoke cloud of the heartless creature vanished, the three people saw that Squall was on one knee, his weapon posed out to his side. His breath was heavy as knelt there, trying to calm down the rush of adrenaline that must have coursed through him during the moments of battle. His hair hung wildly in his face, covering the scar that sat squarely between his eyes.
Yuffie leaned against the wall, her mouth agape and eyes wide, "Did you see how he moved! Like a cat!" she squealed to Cid, who pushed his thumb across his nose with a smile.
"He'll make a nice guardian." The man said proudly.
Aerith smiled as she watched Squall rise to his feet and roll his shoulder slightly. He placed his gunblade back into his belt and averted his eyes to her. Placing her staff against the wall, she moved away from the railing and down the stairs. Her long hair swung slightly as she walked down the steps to the main area. She felt Squall's eyes still on her, watching her every move.
As she came into the wide plaza, she stopped a good 10 feet from the young man. She could see the sweat roll down the side of his face as he continued to pant, but not as heavily as before. She kept her smile calming as she watched for his next move.
Squall looked at the woman in pink, unsure how to react. They had given him back his weapon to fight the creatures that he remembered. Someone who would hand him a weapon to defend himself in such a fight was not his enemy. And someone who would care for him, even though they didn't know him, was something that posed no threat. If he could learn to trust those from his world, then he could do it one more time.
Shaking his mane of hair out, he moved towards her slowly, "I'm sorry I ran from you. I didn't want to believe you and what you had to say." He told, lowering his gaze from her. "Those things were what destroyed my world and took my friends from me." Looking back up, Squall found a small smile, "If you want me to help you fight whatever that was, then I will. I want to revenge what they did to me and my home."
But the woman kept her calming smile, "You didn't let me finish," she told as the young man paused about a foot away from her. Looking up into his deep blue eyes, Aerith spoke softly, "No one is truly gone. Even if they might have disappeared into the darkness, they are never really gone."
"How do you know that?" Squall asked; his face unchanging.
"Because I believe that there is always a way out of the darkness," she told with a soft gaze to the side, "But I will explain it all soon enough." Shaking her ill-feeling away, she clasped her hands together and brought back her cheerful disposition, "But, enough of this sadness. We should get you settled in."
She waved up to the two individuals who returned the gesture. "We'll get you some fresh clothes and have your weapon modified. You'll be using it a lot more now." Aerith told as she moved back towards the stairs.
Watching Aerith move to go back up the stairs, Squall let his stern expression return once more. He knew that this was probably much bigger than just a few mere creatures in the town square. If he was brought here for a reason, it would soon be revealed to him.
Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed it everyone. Stay tuned for the next chapter sometime this week. And remember:
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