The next morning, I woke up kind of late. It was actually around 1030 hours, which meant that I had completely missed breakfast. After showering and getting dressed for the day, I called Kayla's room to see if she was there. Of course, she wasn't and I had no idea where to find her and Tal, who I assumed were together. I decided that the best thing to do was to look for them. I mean, the Garden is not that big so there's only so many places they could be. After putting on my shoes and strapping on my sais, I left my room and went down the dorm hallway to the main hallway. I wasn't surprised to see that people were milling about everywhere. We had been mobile for a while now and everyone was getting restless. I was betting that the TC would be packed so I didn't think that Kayla and Tal would be there. My thought was that they were somewhere spending some "alone time" but I didn't care. I was bored and I needed company.
After checking the parking lot and Ragnarok hangar, which were both empty, and passing the Training Center, I entered the Library. Kit Dincht was working the check out desk in her mother's absence.
"Hey Kit."
"Hi Kaisa. What brings you here?"
"I was wondering if you'd seen Kayla or Tal."
"No," she answered, "not today. Sorry."
"That's okay," I assured, "so, how's your mom doing?"
Kit frowned. "Dr. Kadowaki said that her vital signs seem stronger but she still hasn't's woken up yet."
"Don't worry," I comforted, "She'll get better."
Kit smiled slightly. "Yeah."
"Well, I gotta go find Kayla and Tal, I'll see you later Kit."
"Bye."
I left the library and passed by the front gate and the infirmary. I couldn't imagine why either of them would be there, so I kept going. I was approaching the Quad when I spotted my brother, Vaughn and Cale coming towards me. My first instinct was to duck behind a pillar or something and hide but I knew that Luke had seen me by the smirk on his face. I sighed and stopped in front of them.
"What's this? No Kayla and Tal? Did you guys have a fight?"
I glared at my brother. "As a matter of fact, I'm looking for them. I'd ask if you'd seen them, but you probably wouldn't tell me even if you had."
"That hurts me Kai, that you think I'm that mean."
I stared at him coldly. "You are."
"Fine then, I won't tell you where they are."
Behind him, Vaughn scoffed. "You don't know where they are."
"Thank you asshole," Luke sneered, "you just ruined my fun."
"Why do you gotta mess with her?" Vaughn asked.
"Why do you care?" Luke shot back.
Vaughn shrugged. "Just seemed kinda childish."
"Well, since you care so much, why don't you go help her find them?"
"Okay."
Luke looked at him like he was crazy. "Huh?"
"I said okay." He turned to me. "You don't mind, do you?"
"No."
Narrowing his eyes, Luke glared at Vaughn. "What's your angle, Kinneas?"
"What do you mean?"
"You never willingly help anyone unless there's something in it for you. You better not be thinking about putting the moves on my sister, because I will not hesitate to kill you."
"Oh please." It was my turn to scoff. "Why would Vaughn want to 'put the moves' on me?"
From behind them, Cale spoke for the first time. "Why wouldn't he?"
All three of us looked at him, me in surprise and the other two glaring.
"What?" Cale asked, obviously embarrassed by his outburst, "She's hot. Doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to try and go out with her."
"Okay, here's a new rule," Luke started, "the next person who says my sister is hot gets a hole in them. Sound fair?"
Cale mumbled something I couldn't hear and Vaughn said nothing.
"Well, this was an interesting conversation," I said, embarrassed myself, "now I'm off to find Kayla and Tal."
I walked past them and was surprised when Vaughn fell into step beside me. I looked up at him. "I didn't think you were serious about helping me."
"What? You don't want me to come with you?"
Luke shouted after us. "I'm serious Vaughn. You touch her and I'll kill you!"
We ignored him and continued to walk. "I don't care."
"Gee, that was convincing."
"What do you want me to do? Say 'Oh yes Vaughn, please come with me! I want you by my side"
"That doesn't sound too bad," he grinned, "especially the begging part."
"Well get over it because that's not gonna happen."
"Aw, you got my hopes up."
I didn't reply as we entered the Quad hallway. There was no one in sight so we went farther in. There was no sign of them there so we left and headed for the last place to look, the cafeteria. It was deserted when we got there, no Kayla and Tal in sight. I sighed exasperatedly as we reentered the main hall.
"I've looked everywhere," I told Vaughn, "Where could they be?"
"Did you check Leonhart's room?"
I looked at him in confusion. "Why would they be in Tal's room?"
He raised an eyebrow and looked down at me.
"No!" I insisted, knowing what he was thinking, "They wouldn't...Would they?"
"Your problem is that you don't understand teenage boys," Vaughn started, "They only think about one thing."
"Yeah, but Kayla wouldn't."
"I hope you're right," Vaughn said, "for Leonhart's sake."
"What is it with you big brothers?" I asked him, "You guys go out almost every night sleeping around but you'll kill a guy for just looking at your little sister."
He chuckled. "What makes you think we sleep around?"
"I'm not stupid Vaughn. I've heard the three of you talking."
"You wanna know something?"
"What?"
"Half of the stuff we say are lies and the other half are bullshit."
"So what exactly are you saying?"
He shrugged. "Nothing, I guess."
"Whatever, I'm going back to my room to call Tal's and see if he and Kayla are there."
I started back towards the dorms and was irked when Vaughn followed me. I ignored him and went to my room. Of course, he came in behind me. I walked over to the phone and picked it up as Vaughn flopped down on my bed. I paused with the receiver halfway to my ear.
"What are you doing?"
"Making myself comfortable."
"Do you just 'make yourself comfortable' in every girl's room you go into?"
"Yours is the only girl's room I've ever been in," he replied.
"Right."
"What? You don't believe me?"
"Oh, that's right. You guys prefer hotel rooms."
He smiled but said nothing. I shook my head and dialed Tal's room. The phone rang twice before he answered.
"Hello?"
"I've been looking everywhere for you," I told him, "Is Kayla with you?"
He was silent for a moment. "Yeah, why?"
"What are you guys doing?"
"Nothing!"
"I didn't mean it like that," I insisted, "I just wanted to know what you are doing."
"Nothing," he repeated, "just hanging out."
"Without me."
"We called but no one answered the phone."
"I was asleep."
"Sorry, we didn't mean to leave you out."
"It's okay," I assured, "Let me talk to Kayla, okay?"
"Okay."
I could hear the phone change hands and then Kayla's voice. "Hi."
"Hey, what are you two up to?"
"Nothing."
"Enough with the nothing!" I stated, "You guys are acting so guilty! Why don't you just tell me what's really going on?"
"You tell them Kai," Vaughn called from the bed.
Kayla was silent for a moment. "Was that Vaughn?"
Uh-oh, busted. "No."
"Liar!" Kayla laughed, "Vaughn's in your room, isn't he?"
"Yes," I admitted, "but it's not what you think. I was looking for you guys and he was helping me and he followed me back here."
Over the phone, I could hear Tal's voice. "Did you say that Vaughn's in her room?"
"Yes."
"Go Kaisa!" Tal shouted.
"It's not like that!" I insisted.
"Kaisa likes Vaughn! Kaisa likes Vaughn!"
"I do not like Vaughn!"
"Thanks a lot Kaisa," Vaughn said from my bed, "I'm sitting right here."
"Arg! You guys are driving me crazy!"
"Kaisa likes Vaughn! Kaisa likes Vaughn!" Now both of them were chanting.
"It's okay Kaisa, you can tell me," Vaughn smiled, "I won't tell anyone. Is it true? Do you like Vaughn?"
"Not at the moment," I hissed.
"Hey Kayla," Vaughn yelled, "You better let Kaisa go. We've got some issues to discuss. It seems she doesn't like me. I might have to change her mind."
"Ooo! I better hang up then. Bye Kai!"
The phone went dead in my hand. I placed the receiver back in the cradle and turned to Vaughn. "Get out."
"Aw, you don't mean that."
"Don't make me hurt you."
"Is that a promise?"
"OUT!"
"Okay okay." Vaughn stood up and moved towards the door. "I'll see you later Kai."
"Bye."
Vaughn disappeared out the door and it slid shut after him. Once he was gone, I sank down on my bed with a sigh. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder. I decided to push these thoughts out of my mind and concentrate on the mission that was rapidly approaching. Of course, it was hard to concentrate without my mind slipping back to the thought of Vaughn laying on my bed. The smell of his cologne hung in the air and it was impossible not to think about him. I closed my eyes and pictured him, a huge smile spreading across my face. He was gorgeous and it seemed he got better looking every time I saw him. It was ridiculous, I had been raised with him. Him and Luke had been best friends since they were babies, why now was I just noticing his appeal? And he wasn't making it any easier to put the crush on the back burner with his flirting. I mean, Hyne, he had said he wanted to sleep with me! How was I supposed to ignore that? A little shiver ran through me as I thought about it and I very quickly pushed the thought out of my mind. Those kind of thoughts could be dangerous.
I stood up quickly, hoping the movement would help me focus my thoughts on something else. I paced the room for a few minutes until I finally decided that nothing was going to help. I needed company to occupy my mind but Kayla and Tal were doing "nothing" in his room and they hadn't said they were ready to leave. I finally decided to go through my supplies and magic stock to keep my mind off of things, even though I had done it already last night.
I was just finishing my magic inventory when a knock sounded on my door and Kayla's voice floated through.
"Hey Kai! Is Vaughn done making you like him?"
I rolled my eyes and opened the door. Kayla and Tal stood on the other side, both grinning. Kayla looked passed me. "Oh, is he done already? I'm not surprised."
"Hyne Kayla, I know what you're insinuating and it's not even close to funny," I informed, "I kicked Vaughn out as soon as you hung up."
"Oh, well it's lunch time. You ready?"
I looked down at my watch and saw that it was 1154 hours. "Yeah, I missed breakfast, so I'm starving."
I stepped out into the hallway and the three of us went to the cafeteria for lunch. I forced myself to keep from scanning the room for Vaughn and kept my eyes on Kayla's back as I followed her and Tal to the counter. After getting our food, I followed them to a table and sat down, my eyes now glued to my tray. I finally chanced a glance up and found myself staring straight into the cool blue eyes of Vaughn Kinneas. I felt my eyes widen in surprise and my mouth drop open. I turned away from him quickly and saw that Tal and Kayla had decided, for reasons unknown to me, to sit with our brothers and Cale. They had both seen my reaction and were smiling widely.
"Can we help you?" Luke asked, one eyebrow raised questioningly.
"Just thought we'd sit with you," Tal replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah," Kayla agreed, "Besides, I wanted to talk to Vaughn about earlier."
I glanced back at Vaughn and saw his eyes widen slightly as he glanced at Luke, then back at his sister. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until later."
"But I'm really curious," Kayla told him with an evil grin, "I want to know if you convinced Kaisa to like you."
The table went dead silent after that. I was contemplating making a run for it and I think Vaughn had the same idea. Luke finally broke the silence.
"What the Hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Didn't Vaughn tell you about earlier?" Kayla asked innocently, "You know? When he was in Kaisa's room with her? Alone."
My brother turned on Vaughn like a rabid dog. "You were in her room? I told you not to touch her or I'd kill you. Did you think I was kidding?"
"I didn't touch her," Vaughn insisted, "I swear."
"Then what did you mean when you said you were going to make her like you?" Tal inquired.
"You're a dead man, Kinneas."
"Calm down," I ordered as Luke started to stand up, "It's not anything like it sounds. Vaughn came with me to help me find Kayla and Tal, I went back to my room to call them, he came with me. It was no big deal."
"Then what the Hell are they talking about 'making you like him'?" Luke demanded.
I sighed. "I called Tal's room and asked what he and Kayla were doing. They got all defensive, then they heard Vaughn in my room. They started teasing me and I told them I don't like Vaughn. He acted like he was upset and told Kayla he was going to have to work on it, then I kicked him out."
"That's all that happened?" Luke prodded.
"Yes."
"He didn't touch you?"
"Hyne, Lucian, he didn't touch me," I assured.
"Don't call me that," Luke insisted, then turned back to Vaughn, who was slumped down about as far as he could get in his seat, "Stay away from her, Kinneas. If I catch you near my sister again, you're gonna be sorry."
"Piss off."
"I'm serious," Luke told him, "I will hurt you."
"Come off it," I scoffed, "Vaughn doesn't like me and I don't like him, so you have nothing to worry about."
Luke looked back and forth from the two of us, then settled back into his chair and turned back to his lunch. The rest of us were silent as we ate, but I kept glancing at Kayla and Tal and saw that they were smiling from ear to ear. There would be payback for this one, swift and terrible. I just had to figure out what I was going to do to them.
After we finished eating, the three of us went to the TC to warm up for our mission. I hadn't said much to them and kept quiet as we splatter Grats. Finally, Kayla called me on it.
"Are you gonna be mad at us forever?"
I turned to her. "What makes you think I'm mad?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you haven't said two words since lunch"
"I'm just thinking about the mission."
"Whatever," Kayla scoffed, "Really, you don't have to get mad. We were just messing around."
"I'm not mad," I insisted.
"Swear?"
"I swear, I'm not mad."
"Then why are you so quiet?" Tal asked, speaking for the first time.
The real reason I had been so quiet was because my mind had been preoccupied with thoughts of Vaughn. Of course, I wasn't going to tell them that. "Like I said, just thinking about the mission."
They seemed to accept the explanation this time and we continued with our Grat killing. We stayed in the TC until about 1800 hours, at which time we went to the cafeteria to get dinner. After dinner, we went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for the mission. The three of us met outside mine and Kayla's rooms at 1830, then made our way to the hangar where Ragnarok was stored. When we arrived, we were met by my mom, dad, Uncle Irvine and Aunt Selphie. My dad told us that Uncle Raijin and Aunt Fujin were inside the ship going through the pre-flight and checking our gear and that Uncle Squall was waiting for Aunt Rinoa to get ready for the mission. She hadn't had the chance to do so before since she had just been released a few hours ago from the infirmary.
After a few more minutes, we were joined by Uncle Zell, who had just come from the infirmary where he was sitting with Aunt Cammi. Within ten minutes, Aunt Rinoa and Uncle Squall were there, and a few minutes after that, Luke, Cale and Vaughn showed up. I avoided eye contact with Vaughn and I noticed that he stayed as far away from me as possible. I wondered forlornly if what I had said earlier about not liking him had discouraged him or if it was all Luke's doing. Either way, he was avoiding me like the plague and there was nothing I could do about it.
Once everyone was present, we boarded the plane and the engines came to life. Everyone took their seats and waited as the ship taxied out of the hangar and then shot across the open expanse of rapidly darkening sky. Our parents seemed to be quite relaxed with each other and chatted amongst themselves while the rest of us remained mostly silent, trying to concentrate on the task ahead. As I mentally went through my stock of magic for like the fiftieth time, my eyes strayed to where Vaughn sat, across the aisle from me and a few rows up. He was turned around, talking to his dad and when he saw my eyes on him, he winked quickly. A small smile curved my lips and I looked away as he continued his conversation with Uncle Irvine. Next to me, Kayla must've seen the smile because she addressed it.
"What are you smiling at?"
"Nothing," I told her, the smile widening slightly.
She leaned closer. "Are you having dirty thoughts about Vaughn?"
"Hyne Kayla!" I exclaimed, "No, of course not!"
"Good, because that's just gross."
I gave her a dirty look and my eys turned to Vaughn once again. He had turned back around in his seat and was now talking to my brother and Cale. I let my eyes drop and continued with my mental inventory.
After about an hour of flying, the intercom came to life, startling me out of my thoughts.
"We're approaching Timber, ya know," Uncle Raijin said, "We'll circle the area, then open the cargo bay for your jump ya know."
Near the front of the seats, Uncle Squall stood up and turned to the rest of us. "Okay, it's time to get our gear on."
He and Aunt Rinoa headed down the aisle toward the cargo area and everyone else followed. Once there, we all took a parachute and strapped it on. I felt my stomach twist as I thought of jumping out of the plane with nothing more than a piece of cloth to stop me from plummeting to my death. I jumped as Uncle Raijin come over the intercom again.
"We're over the drop site, ya know. Fu's opening the cargo bay door, ya know. You're ready to go anytime you want, ya know."
Uncle Squall pushed a button on the intercom. "Thanks Raijin, we're starting our jump now."
Without so much as another word, he walked to the now open cargo door and threw himself out into space. He disappeared within seconds, leaving room for the next jumper. Everyone crowded around, waiting for their turn. I ended up at the back of the group and was a little uneasy to see that Vaughn was next to me. At the front, my dad jumped from the plane, followed quickly by my mom. Aunt Rinoa was already gone.
"You nervous?" he asked me.
"A little."
"Don't worry about it," he comforted, "it's really no big deal. Even if your chute doesn't open, you can cast Float on yourself so you don't fall too fast."
I grinned slightly in thanks. If my chute didn't open, I doubted that I would be able to concentrate enough to cast any magic. In front of us, the crowd had thinned to only a few people, Tal and Kayla among them. When her turn came, Kayla turned to me and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze and then disappeared out the hatch. Tal smiled and jumped after her. Now only Vaughn and I were left. I looked at him and he smiled.
"Ladies first."
I narrowed my eyes and stepped forward. I was trying to get the nerve to jump when an explosion sounded and the ship lurched hard to the right. I was thrown off balance and crashed into Vaughn, who in turn crashed into the wall. He looked down at me.
"You okay?"
I nodded and then grabbed onto him tighter as another explosion rocked the ship. On the wall next to us, Vaughn pushed the intercom button. "What's going on?"
"We're taking fire, ya know," Uncle Raijin answered, "If you're gonna jump, it's now or never. We already had to veer off course to avoid the missiles, ya know."
"I thought they weren't supposed to be able to see us," I commented.
"Guess they can," Vaughn stated and then walked over to the open cargo bay. "We'd better get outta here."
"Okay." I joined him and after taking a deep breath, threw myself into the air.
Immediately I was pummeled with the wind rushing past my body and threatening to take the breath from my lungs. I wanted to look up and see if Vaughn was following me but I couldn't, all I could do was look down at the ground that seemed to be rapidly coming up to greet me. The parachute I wore was designed to deploy when I reached a certain altitude but I seemed to be getting awfully close to the ground and it still hadn't popped. I was just about to pull the emergency chute when my main chute deployed, stopping my freetail with a jerk hard enough to rattle my bones. I looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of Vaughn but all I could see was the cloth of my parachute. I looked back down and saw that the trees were close now. After a few seconds, I was past the top of them and falling to the ground. It seemed like I was falling pretty fast and when I hit the ground, my legs buckled underneath me. I fell to the forest floor and was then covered by my parachute. After I finally managed to wrestle my way out of the chute, I took it off and looked around. That's when I realized that I was alone.
I looked around quickly, hoping to catch a glimpse of Vaughn, but he was nowhere to be seen. Fighting panic, I looked up but saw no sign of him or his parachute. Where could he be? Had he jumped too long after me and ended up far away? Uncle Raijin had said we had veered off course, which meant that the others wouldn't be anywhere near where I had landed. If I didn't find Vaughn, I would be stuck all alone in the dark in the forest. I knew that I should keep as quiet as possible to avoid revealing my position but the thought of spending the night alone in the forest scared the Hell out of me. I decided to throw caution to the wind and called out to Vaughn.
"Vaughn!"
I listened and was relieved when I heard an answer from close by.
"Over here!"
I followed his voice and found him about 100 yards from where I had landed. He was just unclipping his parachute when I approached him.
"You okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I had kind of a rough landing but it's nothing serious."
He held his cowboy hat in his hand and he frowned as he put it back on. "Well, considering that Raijin said we had to veer off course, I'm guessing that the others aren't anywhere around here. We'd better start looking for them."
I agreed and we started through the forest, heading in the direction of Timber. We had been traveling for a little more than an hour, fighting monsters (from which I obtained a Coral Fragment and Black Hole for my Limit Break), when we finally were engulfed by full on night. The temperature had dropped considerably and I shivered as we walked. Finally, Vaughn stopped and turned to me.
"We might as well stop for the night," he suggested, "We're likely to get lost or run right into a trap if we keep wandering around in the dark. Besides, if they went along with the plan, they're already in Timber and if they didn't, they're probably looking for us. I think we should just stay put until morning."
"Okay."
Vaughn and I gathered a few dead branches from nearby for a fire, then sat down next to it to keep warm. The fire was small because of lack of fuel and the fact that Vaughn didn't want to give away our position to potential enemies. We sat there, each of us shivering and staring into the flames.
"We should get some sleep," he suggested finally. He took his coat off and handed it to me. "Here, you can cover up with this."
"What about you?"
"I'll be okay," he assured.
I seriously doubted that. All he had to protect him from the elements was a thin cotton T-shirt and jeans. "No, you're gonna freeze, take it." I held the coat out to him.
"And so are you."
"At least I have long sleeves."
Vaughn sighed. "Come here."
"Why?"
"Just come here!"
I got up and walked over to where he sat.
"Lay down."
I looked at him strangely and handed him the coat, then did as he said. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as he laid down next to me and covered us both with the coat. His face was just inches from mine and I was certain he could feel the heat from my red cheeks.
"Goodnight Kaisa."
"Goodnight," I whispered, knowing my voice wouldn't have gone any louder. He closed his eyes and I stared at him, wide awake and thinking that I'd never be able to sleep with him that close to me. After a while, I was proved wrong as my eyelids began to droop and eventually I fell asleep.
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The next morning, I was awakened by a voice, though I wasn't sure if it was real or not. I opened my eyes and found myself staring right at Vaughn. His eyes were still closed and he was so close to me I could feel his breath on my face. I smiled slightly and started to move but realized I couldn't. I looked down in confusion and saw that Vaughn's arms were wrapped tightly around me. My stomach cartwheeled crazily and I looked back up at his face. His eyes were opened now and he smiled at me.
"Morning sunshine."
I smiled and was about to say something when a rustling of bushes close by drew our attention. We both sat up, still wrapped in each other's arms, and stared as a familiar voice cut through the air.
"They're right through here."
Before we could even react, Kayla and Tal stepped through the trees, followed by everyone else. They all stopped and stared at us in surprise and it took me a second to realize that Vaughn and I were still holding each other. I let go of him and he did the same, but not fast enough. My dad pushed himself to the front of the crowd, his face red with anger and his eyes filled with murderous rage.
"What the Hell is going on here?"
"Nothing," I insisted and stood up quickly. Behind me, Vaughn did the same.
"The Hell this is nothing," he shouted. He turned his sights on Vaughn. "You're dead, Kinneas." He started to pull his gunblade.
"Daddy, stop it!"
"Seifer!" my mom yelled, "Calm down!"
"Calm down!" my dad screamed, "Calm down! How the Hell am I supposed to calm down when he's out here practically raping my daughter!"
"Seifer!"
"Daddy!" I looked over at Vaughn and saw the anger in his eyes.
"I would never take advantage of a woman," Vaughn spat, "especially Kaisa."
"Daddy, nothing happened," I swore.
A sudden sob rang out and I looked over to see Kayla had burst into tears. I instantly knew why. "Kay," I called and ran to her. Tal was already trying to comfort her and I hugged her as well. As soon as I was there, Tal let go and turned on my dad. I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen.
"You have a lot of nerve accusing Vaughn of raping somebody."
"Tal, no," I begged.
My dad looked at him like he was crazy. "What the Hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Why don't you ask my mom, I bet she knows what I'm talking about."
I saw my dad and Aunt Rinoa exchange worried glances and felt my heart sink. It was true, what Tal had said.
"What are you talking about, Tal?" Uncle Squall asked, "What's going on?"
"He raped Mom!" Tal shouted and pointed at my dad.
Squall turned to Aunt Rinoa, who had a horror-stricken look on her face. Seeing the look on her face, he must've assumed it was true because he turned to my dad, Lionheart flashing blue as he drew it.
"Squall, no!" Aunt Rinoa cried and grabbed onto his arm, "It's not what you think! It was a long time ago."
"So it's true!" my mom asked incredulously.
"No," Aunt Rinoa countered, "It's not like Tal said, we did but he didn't..." She trailed off as tears gathered in her eyes. "I'm so sorry Squall. I wanted to tell you but I was afraid of what you would say..."
"You slept with Rinoa and never told me?" my mom asked my dad. He didn't answer. "You told me that you'd only kissed once. How could you lie to me?"
He still remained silent. I was surprised when Luke and Cale joined the rest of us and faced the adults.
"Gee Dad, it seems like you're just screwing up everyone life, aren't you?"
I stared up at my brother, confused.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but I suggest you keep your mouth shut," my dad growled.
"What? You don't want everyone to know about what you did while you were 'possessed' by Ultimecia?"
I suddenly realized that my brother had had a dream too, one about our dad and it didn't sound good. "Luke, don't."
"No, everyone deserves to hear this," Luke told me, "he's got them all convinced that he's such a good guy. Wait 'til you hear this." He turned to the group. "During the sorceress wars, Dad killed an entire family in Winhill, parents, kids, even a little baby."
I turned to my dad and saw the pain in his eyes and I knew it was true. I choked back a sob and held on to Kayla, who was still crying. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Vaughn looking down at me. He squeezed my shoulder and turned back to the group as well.
"Don't feel so bad Luke," he started, "you're not the only one who has a screwed up dad. Mine sat by and let an innocent girl get beaten and raped by his friends."
Behind Uncle Irvine, who was staring stunned at his son, Aunt Selphie burst into tears. This caused Kayla to cry harder and I felt her tears soaking into my shirt. My own tears were running down my face and dripping into her hair.
Next to Luke, Cale spoke too. "That's nothing. My dad got drunk one night and hit my mom."
Everyone's eyes turned to Zell, surprised that he would do such a thing. At this point, no one was questioning the truth of what was being said.
"I don't understand," my mom finally said, "How do you all know these things?"
"I had a dream about it the other day," Luke answered.
"So did I," Vaughn agreed.
"Me too," Cale added.
Me and Tal nodded in agreement.
"Kaisa, what did you see?" my mom asked.
I took a deep breath. "I saw Dad stab you in Lunatic Pandora."
Her eyes went wide. "That's why you asked me about the scar."
I nodded solemnly.
"And what about Kayla?"
I shook my head. She nodded and I looked at Aunt Selphie. She understood my gesture and went to the petite brunette, who was still crying while Uncle Irvine tried to comfort her. I heard my mom whisper something to her and she cried harder. My mom hugged her and she turned to cry into her peach battle outfit. It was strange to see an almost mirror image of myself and Kayla standing a few feet in front of us.
Suddenly, Uncle Squall spoke. "We need to continue with our mission. If we don't get those Odine Bangles back before tonight, Raven and Tristen will wake up and go on a rampage." He paused and looked around the crowd. "If anyone here thinks that they aren't up for the mission, then say so now and you can stay here." No one spoke. "All right, we're going to break up into three groups. The Infiltration Team will consist of myself, Rinoa, Cale and Zell. Decoy Team 1 will be Irvine, Selphie, Quistis and Seifer. Decoy Team 2 will be Tal, Kayla, Vaughn, Kaisa and Luke."
"The Hell it will," my dad spat, "You're not putting that pervert with my daughter."
"These orders are non-negotiable," Squall barked, "If you don't like it, you can stay here."
My dad must've known that it was better not to argue because he fell silent but not without glaring at Uncle Squall.
"All right, let's move out," Squall ordered. We fell into line behind him and in silence, followed him to Timber.
The trek took about two hours and no one said hardly a word as we went. When we reached the outskirts of the city, we stopped and Uncle Squall addressed us again.
"All right," he began, "Decoy Teams 1 and 2 will enter the city in different directions and cause a diversion while Infiltration Team goes straight to the shop for the Odine Bangles. If Infiltration Team does not complete the mission, Decoy Team 1 will take their place and if they fail, Decoy Team 2 will move in. Remember, this mission must succeed, no matter what the cost. Do you understand?" We all nodded. "All right, Decoy Team 1, take right, Decoy Team 2, left. Move out."
The five of us did as we were told and silently crept into the town of Timber. Once we were inside, we stopped and tried to hash out a plan.
"We need to create a diversion," Luke reminded, "any ideas?"
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and a treebranch above our heads exploded into splinters. We looked deeper into the town and saw a battalion of pistol-toting soldiers heading towards us.
"Never mind," Luke said and after drawing our weapons, we raced farther into the town. We took cover behind the remains of an old fountain as bullets rained down all around us.
"Kayla, Kaisa, you're gonna have to use magic on this one," Luke told us, "I don't think it's a wise idea to get any closer. Everybody ready?"
We nodded.
"All right then, let's get to it."
The five of us popped up from behind the fountain and began to fire on the army of Dollet soldiers. We took out the first wave pretty easily, then ducked back down to regroup as bullets fell all around us. The guys gave us all of their offensive magic and Vaughn and Luke reloaded while me, Tal and Kayla continued the assault on the soldiers. We ducked back down to catch our breath and Vaughn and Luke took over. When they needed to reload, we popped up again. The army was becoming smaller and smaller with every switch off and I began to feel quite confident that we could win. Suddenly, one of the soldiers cast a Firaga spell that hit Tal and sent him sprawling backwards. Kayla screamed his name and fell down next to him, trying to heal the wounds the fire had caused. I turned around to see how he was doing and suddenly my stomach exploded into a ball of pain and I went down next to Tal.
"Kai!" Vaughn shouted and a second later he was next to me.
I put my hand to my stomach and wasn't surprised that when I pulled it away, it was soaked with blood. My vision began to swim and the wound felt like it was on fire.
"They shot her!" I recognized the voice as Kayla's but I didn't turn my head. I felt weak and didn't want to waste the energy. Things were fuzzy and I was starting to feel very sleepy. I barely saw Luke kneel down next to me and then Vaughn stood up. I saw him go to the fountain and raise his gun, then heard several shots. When he lowered the gun again, there was nothing but silence. A second later, he was back by my side.
"Kai, can you hear me?"
I nodded slightly.
"Kaisa, stay with me," he ordered, then I saw him turn to the side. "Kayla, use Full Cure, now!"
"I can't," she wailed, "I don't have any Aura magic!"
"I do," Luke stated and cast Aura on her.
"Now, Kayla!" Vaughn urged. I couldn't figure out why he kept yelling at her.
"I'm trying!" she told him, "I can't concentrate with you yelling at me!"
Then I heard Luke say the strangest thing in the world. "Hurry Kayla! We're losing her!"
"Quit pressuring her!" Tal shouted, "You're making her nervous!"
"Okay," Kayla said, "Here we go."
I felt Vaughn and Luke each grab one of my hands and squeeze tightly. If I had been more there it probably would've hurt. Suddenly, the cure spell hit me and I was wide awake again. I screamed in pain as the bullet worked it's way back out of my stomach. I felt Luke and Vaughn squeeze my hands tighter and I squeezed right back as the pain threatened to make me faint. As quickly as it had started, it was gone and I was left laying on the ground gasping for breath and clutching Vaughn and Luke's hands for dear life.
"Are you okay?" Vaughn asked after I had caught my breath.
"Yeah," I told him and released my hold on him and my brother.
"Kai!" Without warning, Kayla threw herself against me and hugged me tightly. "Are you sure you're okay? You almost died!"
Tal was next to me a second later, shoving my brother out of the way. "Hyne, Kai, that was close."
"What are you guys talking about?" I questioned, "I just got shot. It was no big deal."
I looked around and saw that all of them had been pretty worried.
"Better take a look at yourself, little sis," Luke told me.
I pulled away from Kayla and looked down at where the wound had been. I was surprised to see quite a large scar and that the entire front of my stomach and all down my pants was soaked with blood.
"Holy shit," I murmured in astonishment. I shakily got to my feet and saw that where I had been laying, there was a puddle of blood, my blood. I looked at all of them in shock. "I almost died?"
Kayla hugged me again and this time Tal joined in as well. I hugged them back, trying to grasp the dire situation I had been in. I had almost died. It scared the Hell out of me to realize that and I didn't want to think about it. I looked over Kayla's head and saw that Vaughn was staring at me with a weird look on his face. I smiled slightly at him and he smiled back, but I could tell that there was no humor in the smile.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out somewhere in the town. It was a different sound than the pistols had made, which meant it was either Uncle Irvine's shotgun, my dad's Hyperion or Uncle Squall's Lionheart. It was answered with a barrage of fire that was definitely the pistols the army had. The five of us looked at each other.
"We'd better go help," Luke stated. We agreed and hurried in the direction of the assault.
It took us a few minutes to reach the assaulted party and when we arrived we saw that it my my mom and dad, Uncle Irvine and Aunt Selphie. They were trapped behind a burned down building that was rapidly being torn to shreds by the army's fire. We wasted no time in coming to their aid. After we had dispatched the current wave of soldiers and silence had fallen again, they turned to us. My parents eyes went wide when they saw all the blood on my clothes.
"Oh my Hyne Kaisa!" my mother gasped, "Are you okay?"
"What happened baby girl?"
"I took a hit," I told them, "I'm okay though. Kayla healed me."
My mom hugged me tightly. "Thank Hyne you're all right."
"What about you guys?" Aunt Selphie asked.
"We're fine," Kayla assured. I looked at them and for the first time saw that all of them had my blood on them. The front of Kayla's dress was covered with it and the guys white shirts were smeared with the crimson fluid.
"So, where's the Infiltration Team?" Luke inquired.
"They entered not too long ago, heading for the shop that sells the Odine Bangles," my mom informed.
"Should we go help them?" Vaughn asked.
"No," my mom shook her head, "we need to stay here and draw the forces to us. They have to get those Bangles."
"I think we pretty much took care of their army," Luke commented, "We took down a troop about the same size as this one. They couldn't have too many more here."
"Still, we need to stay here," my mom insisted, "just in case."
The rest of us complied and sat down to wait. Tal and Kayla sat next to me and we began to talk as we waited.
"So Kay, how did you find me and Vaughn this morning?"
"Blayze led me to you," she replied proudly, "she finally talks to me and because of her link with Ember, she knew where you were."
"Cool," I said.
"So," Kayla started after lowering her voice, "what really happened between you and Vaughn out in the forest?"
I looked up quickly to see if my parents were listening. They were both standing watch for the other team a few feet away. I turned back to her and Tal. "Nothing. The only reason we were...like we were was because we had to share his coat as a blanket last night and sometime while we were sleeping we kind of got tangled up in each other's arms."
"Aw! That would be so romantic if it wasn't my brother we were talking about."
I rolled my eyes at her and was about to make a comment when a shout caught our attention. We sprang to our feet and saw Aunt Rinoa, Uncle Squall, Cale and Uncle Zell running towards us. Behind them was a whole lot of soldiers hot on their heels. Uncle Squall would occasionally turn to fire at the soldiers or Aunt Rinoa would cast a spell or send her Blaster Edge at them but none of them stopped. As they got closer, it seemed like more and more soldiers joined the ones already following them.
"Retreat!" Uncle Squall shouted when he spotted us. "Go!"
My dad, Uncle Irvine, Vaughn, Luke and Tal all began to give the other team cover fire while me, Kayla, my mom and Aunt Selphie turned and headed back towards the forest outside of the city. As we ran, my mom spoke into a communicator located on her wrist.
"Raijin, Fujin, do you read me?"
The device crackled. "We're here, ya know."
"We're on our way out," my mom told him, "get to the rendezvous point. I'll call you when we get closer."
"Roger Quisty."
I looked behind me and saw that the others were following us but were a ways back. The army was still close behind them.
"Mom," I called as we ran, "How are we supposed to board the Ragnarok with the army so close?"
"Hopefully we'll lose them in the forest," she answered.
"And if we don't?"
She smiled grimly. "Then things are going to get interesting."
We ran for what seemed like forever before my mom finally called Uncle Raijin back. "We're almost there, hover at five hundred."
"Roger."
We ran for another five minutes and I felt like my legs were going to fall off. I chanced a glance behind me and saw that the army had thinned a bit but the bulk of them were still coming. I looked over at my mom and saw that she knew they were back there too. Suddenly, I could see the edge of the forest in front of us.
"Now Raijin!"
Ahead of us, I could hear the engines of the Ragnarok as it lowered to the ground. We finally burst from the trees just as the giant red ship was coming to rest on the ground.
"Hurry!" my mom shouted, "we've only got a limited amount of time before the Dollet Army radios back to HQ that we've landed the ship!"
As soon as we were under the ship, we all turned and began firing spells at the army, giving the others some cover. Just as they were approaching us, we heard the huge wing guns begin to spin and bullets began to tear into the Dollet army.
"Hurry!" my mom repeated and the thirteen of us ran back to the cargo ramp. We were running up it when we heard the unmistakable whine of a large missile approaching.
"Incoming!" my dad yelled and a second later, the ground a few hundred feet behind the ship exploded, sending dirt and rocks in every direction. I ran up the ramp and into the cargo hold. Uncle Squall was already there, ordering Uncle Raijin to take off. I looked back and saw that the ramp was already rising, as was the ship.
"Get to your seats!" my mom ordered, "Strap in!"
We obeyed and hurried to the passenger area. I sat down in the first seat I came to and wasted no time in hooking my seatbelt. Tal and Kayla sat across the aisle from me and Vaughn took the seat next to me. Luke and Cale sat in front of us. Our parents were still moving up the aisle when another explosion sounded, this one close enough to rock the ship and send them stumbling.
"Get us the Hell out of here Raijin!" my dad shouted, though he knew Uncle Raijin couldn't hear him.
Our parents had barely taken their seats when yet another explosion rocked the ship, this one a lot closer.
"They're getting closer," Uncle Zell stated.
No one said anything and I tensed in my seat and grasped the armrests tightly, knowing that the next one wasn't going to miss. I was surprised when I felt Vaughn's hand close over mine. I looked up at him and he offered me a weak smile, then squeezed my hand. I squeezed back and turned away, waiting for the inevitable. Suddenly, the engine sounds changed and we were speeding through the sky, away from Dollet. It took me a few seconds to realize that we had made it. I think it was Aunt Selphie's giggle of relief that finally snapped me out of my semi-trance. I looked around and after seeing everyone was okay, relaxed in my seat. I had forgot I was holding onto Vaughn's hand until he squeezed it again. I quickly released it and with a wink, he stood up and went to sit with Luke and Cale. I smiled slightly and sighed with relief as I sunk down in my seat. We had made it out with the Bangles. Mission accomplished.