The ride back to Garden was uneventful. Everyone was in a great mood because the mission had been a success and it almost seemed as if they had forgotten about the terrible things that had been revealed earlier. After landing at Garden, everyone vacated the plane. Our parents decided to hurry to the infirmary and put the Bangles on Tristen and Raven as soon as possible. We had decided before landing that we would head to the cafeteria to get some lunch since none of us had eaten since dinner the night before.
"I'll catch up with you guys," I told them, "I wanna go and change."
"Me too," Kayla agreed.
"I'll save you a spot," Tal promised.
"Don't you want change?" I asked the guys.
"A little blood doesn't bother me," Luke commented, "I'm starving."
"Okay." In the main hall, the guys left us at the dorm hall and then continued on to the cafeteria. Kayla and I went to our rooms and quickly changed. I put on a pair of jeans and a blue tank top. I also washed most of the blood off of my stomach in my bathroom. Kayla was waiting for me when I finished and we went to the cafeteria together. When we entered, the guys were sitting at a nearby table and waved us over. Tal had already got me and Kayla some food so we sat down and started to eat. It was weird how Luke, Vaughn and Cale were treating us like people now instead of like younger siblings. I mean, a week ago they would've never let us sit with them and now it was like we always did.
On the way back to Garden, my stomach had begun to ache where I had taken the bullet. The ache had continued to grow worse until it was a steady throbbing. Every once in a while it would get worse and I would grimace until it faded again. One time Kayla saw me and asked me what was wrong.
"My stomach," I told her, "it's aching pretty bad."
"Gunshots do that," Luke told me.
I eyed him skeptically. "How do you know?"
"Me and Vaughn used to shoot each other all the time when we were training," he stated.
"Yeah, when they weren't shooting me," Cale grumbled.
"Don't worry," Luke continued, ignoring Cale, "It'll feel better in a few days."
I nodded and flinched as another bad pain shot through me. "I think I'm gonna go lay down for awhile."
"I'm done," Kayla informed, "I'll walk you back."
"Me too," Tal informed.
"We're done too," Luke commented and stood up, "We'll follow you."
We all threw our trash away and headed back to the dorms. Tal, Kayla, Luke and Cale were walking in front of me and Vaughn fell into step next to me. Keeping his eyes on my brother, he leaned down so I could hear him.
"Meet me in my room in ten minutes," he whispered, "I have some ointment that will make your gunshot feel better"
I looked up at him and nodded just as my brother turned around to face us.
"You gonna be okay kid?"
"Yeah," I assured, not even mad that he had called me kid, "I'll be fine."
"Okay, I'll be in my room if you need me," he informed, "just call."
I stared at him in shock. "Uh, okay."
"See ya later."
The guys went down another hall as me and Kayla approached our rooms.
"I'm gonna take a hot shower and then take a nap," she told me.
"Sounds like a good idea."
"See you later Kai."
"Bye."
I entered my room and shut the door behind me, then immediately looked at my watch. Vaughn told me to meet him in ten minutes. I went to the bed and sat down to wait. After eight minutes, I got up and left my room again. I checked the hall to make sure that Kayla and Tal were nowhere around and then headed to Vaughn's room. When I got there, I stood nervously outside the door, trying to get up the courage to knock. I finally did and he opened it a second later.
"Hey, come on in."
I followed him in and the door slid shut behind me. He told me to have a seat and motioned to his bed. Like before, I perched lightly on the edge as he grabbed a jar off of the night stand. He opened it and then turned back to me.
"Lay back and I'll put some on you."
I stared at him for a second, then laid down as he had said. I saw him scoop some of the medicine out of the jar and then he rubbed it gently on my gunshot wound. Afer he was done, he put the jar back on the night stand.
"Better?"
"Uh huh," I squeaked and sat back up quickly. An awkward silence ensued and I stood up. "I better get going."
I started towards the door but was stopped as his hand closed around my own. I looked up at him in confusion.
"Before you go, I need to ask you something."
Turned back to face him. "Okay."
"This is gonna sound really stupid," he told me, "but...Do you really like me?"
I was momentarily surprised by his question but quickly regained my composure. I smiled. "Of course I like you Vaughn. We're friends, aren't we?"
He frowned. "That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
He grinned slightly. "You wouldn't tell me even if you did, would you?"
I grinned back and shook my head. "Nope."
"Why not?"
"Hypothetically?"
"Hypothetically."
"Well, hypothetically, if I liked you, which I'm not saying I do or don't, I wouldn't tell you because guys always want what they think they can't have."
"What makes you think I would think I couldn't have you?"
"What makes you think you could?" I shot back.
"Touche," Vaughn said.
"Since we're asking questions, I have one for you," I told him.
"Shoot."
"The other day when I ran into you in the hall and you said that you'd never pass up an opportunity to sleep with me, were you just messing with me or did you mean it?"
"I was just messing with you."
I couldn't conceal the disappointment on my face.
"Only because I respect you too much to do something like that without feelings being involved. Now if their were feelings..."
"Keep it in your pants cowboy," I teased.
He grinned and then changed the subject. "I was going to take a quick shower and then go to the library. Do you want to join me?"
"In the shower or to the library?"
"Either."
"No to the shower," I told him, "but I'll come to the library with you."
"Okay. I'll be out in a few minutes."
He grabbed some fresh clothes from the closet and then disappeared into the bathroom. I sat back down on the bed. I suddenly realized how tired I was and laid down, telling myself I was just going to rest my eyes for a second.
I woke up some time later to hear someone yelling. I opened my eyes quickly, wondering who was in my room and why they were so mad. When I looked around I realized I wasn't in my room and that the person yelling was my brother. I sat up just in time to see him slam Vaughn into the wall.
"I told you not to mess with her!" Luke screamed.
"I told you, nothing happened," Vaughn stated angrily.
"She's in your bed!"
"She fell asleep while I was in the shower!"
"What was she doing here in the first place?"
Cale, who was standing nearby, interrupted. "Come on guys, can't we talk about this like adults?"
"Stay the Hell out of this!" Luke ordered.
"That's enough!" I shouted from the bed. None of them had known I was awake and I momentarily drew their attention. I jumped off the bed and stormed over to my brother. "You're acting like an idiot! Even if I had slept with Vaughn, which I didn't, that doesn't give you the right to come in here screaming like a lunatic!"
"Why are you here then?"
"Vaughn gave me some ointment for my gunshot," I told him, "then he asked me if I wanted to come to the library with him. I agreed and while he was in the shower, I fell asleep. That's all."
"So you go behind my back and invite her here for some bullshit reason and then figured you'd crawl into bed with her?" Luke accused Vaughn.
"You're an asshole, you know that?" Vaughn stated, "Even if that had been my plan, which it wasn't, I know she's not stupid enough to fall for something like that."
"I'm not a kid anymore," I told Luke, "I can handle myself."
"Not with him you can't," Luke insisted, "I've seen the way you've been looking at him lately and I know he's seen it to. He'll take advantage of you the first chance he gets."
"That's bullshit!" Vaughn spat. "You know what you're problem is Almasy? You couldn't get a girl to save your life without me setting it up and you're afraid that I'm not gonna hook you up anymore if I'm interested in your sister."
I saw rage flare up in Luke's eyes and before anyone could stop him, he punched Vaughn in the stomach. The cowboy doubled over from the blow, then tackled Luke, sending both of them to the floor. They began to roll around, punching, kicking and cursing at each other.
"Stop it!" I screamed but they ignored me and continued to wrestle around. Cale stood by watching in shock and offering absolutely no help. Finally, seeing no other option, I cast a Thunder spell at them. The relatively weak spell didn't hurt them much, but it did stop them. They both looked at me like I was crazy.
"What the Hell are you doing, Kaisa?" Luke demanded.
"Stopping you before you kill each other!"
They both got to their feet and brushed themselves off.
"Hyne, Kai, don't you think that was a little bit of an overreaction?" Vaughn asked as he picked up his hat from the floor and put it back on his head.
My face turned red with anger and I had to struggle to suppress a scream. "You're both idiots!" I shouted and stormed from the room. I stomped all the way back to my room and nearly plowed Kayla and Tal in the process.
"Whoa!" Tal exclaimed, "What's wrong with you?"
"My brother and her brother are the biggest jerks in the world!" I yelled, pointing to Kayla.
"What happened?" Kayla asked.
I relayed the events of the past hour or so. "And the worst thing is that their supposed to be best friends and they were ready to kill each other over me!"
"I think Vaughn has a crush on you," Kayla teased.
"Oh please!" I scoffed.
"I'll tell you why I think that if you admit that you like Vaughn."
"That's not gonna happen."
"You practically just did," Kayla giggled.
"Hyne Kayla!" I exclaimed, "If I admit it, will you leave me alone about it?"
"Yes."
"Fine," I sighed, "I have a crush on your brother. There, satisfied?"
She jumped in the air and clapped her hands. "I knew it!"
"It was pretty obvious," Tal agreed.
"Whatever."
"Now," Kayla started, "The reason I say that Vaughn likes you to is this: He and Luke have been best friends forever, correct?"
"Yes."
"And what did we always say their motto was?"
"Buddies before bitches."
"Exactly," Kayla agreed, "So here's my point. Luke specifically told Vaughn to stay away from you and he didn't, which implied that he has some feelings for you. Otherwise he would've just backed off."
"Your point is valid," I admitted, "but I still don't think he likes me."
"There he goes," Tal spoke and pointed down the hallway, "Why don't you go ask him?"
I turned around just in time to see Cale, Vaughn and Luke disappear into the corridor to the main hallway. "Quick! We've got to follow them!"
"Why?" Tal asked, "I was just joking about asking him."
"What if Luke takes Vaughn somewhere and beats the crap out of him or something?" I insisted. "We have to follow them and make sure that doesn't happen."
"As funny as it would be to see my brother get his ass kicked," Kayla began, "I think you're right. If they were as mad as you said they were at each other, they could do damage."
The three of us hurried after our brothers and Cale. We spotted them in the main hall heading in the direction of the Training Center. My fears were confirmed when they entered and we lost sight of them.
"I told you!" I stated, "Luke and Vaughn are going to duke it out in the Training Center!"
We picked up our pace and were almost running when we entered the TC. We barely caught sight of the guys as they went deeper into the foliage, probably searching for a spot where no one would be. We followed, trying to be as stealthy as possible so they didn't know we were there. They continued until they were in the deepest part of the TC where hardly anyone went because of the risk of running into T-Rexaurs. When they stopped, we concealed ourselves in the bushes a few feet away to see what was going on.
"Vaughn, this is the last time I'm gonna tell you: stay away from my sister."
"No."
My eyes went wide at Vaughn's reply. He was playing with fire now, we all knew it. Luke stared at him in shock.
"What?"
"I can't," Vaughn told him, the cocky tone fading. "When you told me to, I tried, I really did but I just can't do it. There's just something about her..."
Kayla nudged me and grinned as my face burned with a deep blush.
"Yeah she's just your type Vaughn, female," Luke quipped.
"Screw you Almasy," Vaughn snapped, "You wouldn't understand even if you wanted to."
"Why don't you enlighten me?" Luke suggested.
"I don't know how to explain it," Vaughn admitted, "But I know that with her, it's different."
"Bullshit!" Luke scoffed, "you just want to get into her pants."
"No," Vaughn contradicted. He paused for a second. "Well, yeah, but not like you're thinking. I don't want just a one night stand with her. I want every night with her."
"Uh oh," Cale chuckled, "this sounds pretty serious Luke."
"We've been best friends since we were born," Vaughn reminded, "and you know that I wouldn't fight with you over just 'some girl'. I'm falling hard for her man, I think she might be the one."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I felt Kayla nudge me again and when I turned to her, her eyes were big and shiny.
"That is the sweetest thing I've ever heard," she whispered.
I put my finger to my lips to shush her and then turned back to the guys to see what Luke's reaction would be. He stared at Vaughn for a few seconds. Finally, he sighed in defeat.
"If you're screwing with me Kinneas, I will hurt you."
"I'm not," Vaughn assured.
"And if you ever, ever hurt her, I'll kill you with my bare hands," Luke continued.
"I won't."
"I still don't like the idea of you putting the moves on my sister," Luke clarified, "but I won't stop you."
"So we're cool?" Vaughn asked and held out his hand.
"We're cool," Luke confirmed and they shook hands.
We were just about to sneak off into the bushes when Kayla sneezed loudly. Tal and I looked at her in horror and she smiled apologetically. We were about to run as fast as we could when Cale spoke behind us.
"Hey Vaughn, I hope you wanted Kaisa to hear all those things you just said."
The three of us turned around and saw Cale was pushing aside the bush we were hidden behind. I looked past him and saw that Vaughn was blushing and looked almost terror stricken. Luke, on the other hand, was laughing. The three of us emerged from the brush and walked over to the guys.
"What were you doing? Spying on us?" Luke asked.
"No," I insisted, "We followed you here to make sure you and Vaughn weren't going to kill each other."
"Aw, I'm flattered, you were worried about me," Luke joked.
"Not quite."
"Oh, so you were worried about Vaughn then?"
I looked over at Vaughn and saw that he was looking right at me. When he saw my eyes on him, he turned away. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I was."
"Well, since you heard what he had to say about you, why don't you tell him how you feel," Luke suggested. He turned to Cale, Tal and Kayla. "Come on, let's give the love birds some privacy."
Luke led the others back the way we had come, leaving Vaughn and I alone. I watched them go, then once they had disappeared, turned back to Vaughn. He was staring down at the ground and refused to look up.
"So," I started.
"So," he repeated. We were silent again for a moment until he looked up at me and spoke. "So, you heard everything huh?"
"Yeah."
"What do you think?"
"About what?"
"Hyne Kaisa!" he started, "I just unwittingly poured my heart out to you, the least you could do is give me a hint about how you feel about me."
"Is it true?" I questioned, "what you told Luke."
He stared right in my eyes. "Yes."
The Butterfly Ballet was back in my stomach and they were putting on the performance of a lifetime. "Then why didn't you tell me?"
"I was gonna wait," Vaughn admitted, "until after this sorceress thing was taken care of but I just couldn't stop myself."
"When did you first realize?"
"What? That I liked you?"
I nodded.
"The truth? I've liked you since I was fourteen years old. The first time I saw you pick up your sais and train with them, I was in awe. No other girl had ever made me feel like that. Then, as we got older and we were studying to become SeeDs, I knew neither of us had the time for romance. After awhile, I kind of forgot about you and focused on other things but when I caught you at FH, I remembered why I had been drawn to you in the first place. It's been downhill ever since."
"So, where do we go from here?"
He smiled. "I guess that all depends on you."
"You wanna know the truth, Vaughn? Ever since FH, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. At first, I tried to deny it but the feelings just kept getting stronger and stronger until I couldn't hide from them anymore. I talked to my mom about it..."
"You're mom?" he interrupted, his eyes wide. "Does your dad know?"
I grinned. "Are you afraid of my dad?"
"Hell yes!" Vaughn admitted, "That man scares the shit out of me!"
"Don't worry," I teased, "I'll protect you from big, bad Seifer Almasy."
He grinned back. "You better." The smile left his face and he took a step towards me. I looked up at him, waiting for him to speak. "I was going to wait until after the sorceress was destroyed to ask you to be my girlfriend."
"Do we have to wait?"
He smiled. "No." And without warning, he bent down and kissed me.
The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering around like they were amped on caffeine and I was so shocked I didn't even kiss him back. When he pulled away, I was staring at him, wide-eyed.
He grinned. "You okay?"
"Yeah," I breathed.
"Good," he stated and kissed me again. This time, I recovered quickly and after putting my arms around his neck, kissed him back. When we finally pulled apart, he was still grinning.
"There, that was better. What do you say we head out of here? I'm sure Kayla is just dying to hear what happened."
"Maybe not," I laughed, "I mean, you are her brother."
"You're probably right," Vaughn agreed, "She'll probably be like 'You kissed my brother? That is so disgusting!'"
I laughed at his imitation of Kayla and the two of us left the Training Center. We were surprised to find Luke, Cale, Tal and Kayla waiting for us outside.
"It's about time," Cale commented, "I was beginning to think you were getting down and dirty on the TC floor." Luke smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!"
"That's not funny."
"So," Kayla prodded, "did everything work out?"
"Judging by the stupid grin on Kaisa's face, I'd say yes," Tal offered.
I playfully smacked him. "Ha ha."
"We were just about to go hunt some T-Rexaurs," Luke stated, "Can you tear yourself away from Kai long enough to join us?"
"I don't know," Vaughn admitted and put his arm around me.
"Go," I insisted and shoved him lightly, "me and Kayla need to talk anyway."
"Okay."
The three guys started for the TC door but stopped as Luke turned around. "You coming Leonhart?"
Tal stared wide-eyed, surprised that he had been invited. "Uh, sure."
"Better hurry," I teased as he hurried after them, "Don't want to be left behind."
Tal made a very rude hand gesture and then disappeared into the TC with the other guys. As soon as they were gone, Kayla pounced on me.
"I want to know what happened," she started, "don't leave anything out."
"All right but let's go back to my room," I told her, "I don't want this to get around. If my dad finds out, Vaughn's dead and probably me too."
"Ooo, this must be good!" Kayla surmised and the two of us went back to the dorms. Once we were in my room and safe from eavesdroppers, I told her everything that had happened after they had left Vaughn and I alone.
"I know I should be disgusted because it's Vaughn, but I'm so happy for you!"
"Well, now that that's out in the open, I want to know about you and Tal."
Kayla stared at me, a guilty look on her face. "I wanted to tell you Kai, I really did and so did he but we were afraid that you would feel left out."
"So you are seeing each other?"
Kayla nodded. "We have been ever since we rescued Raven and Tristen."
"I knew something was up," I told her.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she apologized, "I'm a terrible friend."
"No you're not," I assured, "I didn't tell you that I liked Vaughn"
"I guess we're even then."
"Sounds good."
We talked continued to talk about how things had changed in such a short time and tried to figure out exactly what was going on in our lives. We didn't know how long we had been talking until there was a knock on my door. I opened it to reveal Vaughn and Tal.
"Ready for dinner?" Vaughn asked.
"It's dinner time already?" Kayla questioned as she walked up behind me.
"Yes," Tal told her.
"So? Shall we go?" Vaughn held out his arm to me.
I grinned and looped my arm with his. "Yes."
The four of us left my room and headed to the cafeteria. When we entered, a few of the nearby girls giggled and waved to Vaughn. He grinned and put his arm around me.
"Sorry ladies," he told them, "I'm taken."
I saw the looks on the girls' faces and I suddenly realized that I was now one of the most envied girls in Garden. The girls were looking at me like they looked at Raven Leonhart...who at that moment was approaching us from across the cafeteria. My hands instinctively went to my sais. I felt Vaughn let go of me and he stepped protectively in front of me, his hand on his shotgun. When she got closer, she smiled and I saw that her eyes were the same gray they had been all her life. Around her neck was an Odine Bangle.
"Raven!" Tal shouted when he saw his sister and ran to her. He was met with a warm hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I wanted to thank you for saving Tristen and I," Raven told him and turned to the rest of us. "I wanted to thank all of you for what you did."
"We didn't do anything extraordinary," Vaughn replied with a tip of his hat, "we did what any SeeD would do for another."
"Thank you," Raven said. Suddenly, the smile faded from her face. "I know that it's not much, but I also wanted to apologize for the pain and suffering that Tristen and I put you through."
"Rave, you don't have to apologize," Tal assured, "we know that it wasn't you."
She smiled again, though it wasn't hard to tell that she was upset about the entire thing. "Well, I'd better get going. Tristen and I are dining in my room to avoid any problems. I just came to get silverware." She held up two plastic wrapped sets of eating utensils. "I'll see all of you later."
We said goodbye to Raven and she left the cafeteria. After she was gone, we got our dinner and joined Luke and Cale at their table. We talked about mundane things as we ate. None of us had seen our parents since we returned and we were all hesitant to mention what had happened out in the Timber Forest that morning. I was trying not to think about it but what Luke had seen really bothered me. Had my dad really killed an entire family, children and all? I knew that at the time he was possessed by Ultimecia but I still didn't like the thought of my dad as a brutal murderer. I shivered at the thought. Beside me, Vaughn grabbed my hand.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," I assured, "just a little chill." I didn't want to tell him the real reason for the quiver because I didn't want to bring up the terrible things that were said. I knew that Kayla was really bothered by what she had seen happen to her mom. Out of all of them, I think I had seen the least disturbing thing, which was pretty sad considering what I saw. I decided that in the morning I had to have a talk with my parents and try to get things straightened out.
Obviously not convinced by my explanation, Vaughn leaned down closer to me. "Are you sure you're okay?"
I nodded and smiled up at him. He smiled back and all memories of what I had seen in my dream fled. It was still hard for me to believe that he had said all those things but when I looked into his eyes, it was easy to see that he had meant them. I felt the butterflies in my stomach again as he leaned down and, after pushing his hat back, rested his forehead against mine.
"Okay."
He kissed the tip of my nose and then backed away, settling his hat back on his head.
"Oh Hyne!" Luke gagged, "Get a room!"
Vaughn grinned. "You gave me permission." He grabbed my hand and acted like he was going to leave.
Luke scowled at him. "Not funny."
After dinner, the six of us went back to the dorms. Cale and Luke headed straight to their rooms but Tal and Vaughn came with me and Kayla. We stopped outside our respective rooms.
"Goodnight Tal," Kayla said.
"Goodnight Kayla." Tal leaned forward and chastely kissed Kayla on the cheek.
"Oh come on Leonhart!" Vaughn scoffed, "What kind of a goodnight kiss is that? Here, take a lesson from a pro."
Without warning, he grabbed me and dipped me low, then kissed me deeply. After a minute, he stood back up straight, pulling me with him. I was breathless and slightly embarrassed, but he was all smiles.
"That's a goodnight kiss."
Tal glared. "Show off."
Kayla entered her room and Tal stomped off towards his, mumbling about Vaughn. Once we were alone, Vaughn spoke again. "Sorry about that but I had to show the kid how it's done."
I scowled at him. "How many other girls have you done that to?"
He grinned. "None, I swear."
"Never mind," I told him, "I don't want to know."
"So, are you gonna invite me in?"
I smirked at him. "No."
"Why not? You did before."
"I keep telling you, the words came out wrong"
"I think you said exactly what you wanted to," he teased, "you know you want me."
Still smirking, I stepped closer to him and brought my lips to his ear. "I'm not denying that."
The smile slipped from his face. "Hyne Kaisa, you can't say things like that to me."
I stepped back and keyed in my lock code. The door slid open. "Goodnight Vaughn."
"'Night Kai."
I entered my room and waved as the door slid shut. I rekeyed the lock code and went to my closet. I pulled out some clean pajamas and then went into the bathroom to take a shower. The hot water felt good on my gunshot wound and I was finally able to wash all of the blood off of me. After the shower, I dressed in pajamas and climbed into bed. A lot had happened during the day and I guess I had been running on adrenaline since this morning but as soon as I got into bed, my body shut down and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The next morning I was awakened by the ringing of my phone. I looked at my clock, which read 0845, and groaning, picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Morning sunshine."
I groaned again. "What do you want?"
"What do you think?"
"Come on Vaughn, is there a reason you're bugging me this early?"
I could hear the smile in his voice over the phone. "Of course there is, it's been almost twelve hours since I've seen you and I miss you."
"Hyne Vaughn, did you really count the hours?"
"And the minutes and the seconds," he told me, "you wanna know how many?"
"No," I smiled despite myself, "Give me about fifteen minutes and I'll meet you at my room okay?"
"Okay."
I hung up the phone and rolled out of bed, then took a shower and got dressed. It was only ten minutes later, but when I opened my door to leave, Vaughn was already waiting for me. He smiled when I joined him in the hallway.
"Morning sunshine."
"Good morning."
He bent down and kissed me quickly. "You wanna go get some breakfast? Kayla and Tal already went."
"Yeah."
We had just emerged from the dorm hallway when an announcement came over the intercom.
"Attention everyone! Would the following SeeDs please report to the third floor: Lucian Almasy, Cale Dincht, Vaughn Kinneas, Taylor Leonhart, Kaisa Almasy and Kayla Kinneas. I repeat, would the following SeeDs please report to the third floor: Lucian Almasy, Cale Dincht, Vaughn Kinneas, Taylor Leonhart, Kaisa Almasy and Kayla Kinneas. That is all."
The intercom went silent and Vaughn and I looked at each other in confusion.
"What do you think that's about?" he asked.
"No clue."
I shrugged and the two of us made our way to the elevator. We were met there by Luke, Cale, Kayla and Tal.
"What do you think's going on?" Tal inquired as we boarded the elevator.
"No idea," Luke answered. When we were all in, he pushed the 3rd floor button and we all rode up in silence. When the doors opened at our destination, Aunt Rinoa was waiting for us.
"Mom, what's going on?" Tal questioned.
"Let's go to your dad's office," she suggested, "we all want to talk to you about something."
We followed Aunt Rinoa to Uncle Squall's office. When we entered, I was surprised to see that all of our parents were present, except for Aunt Cammi, who still hadn't regained consciousness. We all sat down around the table and waited somewhat impatiently for our parents to speak. My mother was the first.
"We brought you here because we need to talk about the dreams you have all had."
I stiffened in my seat and underneath the table, Vaughn grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Next to me, I could fee Kayla tense as well.
"I thought we talked enough about them in Timber," Luke deadpanned, giving our father a poisonous look.
"No," my mother shook her head, "we were all upset then and didn't get to the bottom of things. As I'm sure you all know by now, the things you saw were in fact memories from the past. What we need to figure out is who sent these memories and why."
"The only person who has the power to send us memories like that is Ellone," Cale spoke truthfully.
"Yes," my mother agreed, "We believe that Ellone has sent these memories but for what reason, we don't know."
"We've decided to go to Esthar to find out for ourselves." It was Uncle Squall who spoke this time. "We have tried to call the President of Esthar, but we received no answer."
We all knew that Uncle Squall's dad was Laguna Loire, the president of Esthar. I could see the look of worry in his eyes. Something was going on in Esthar.
"We are leaving at 1100," Uncle Squall continued, "I expect you all to ready by then. Dismissed."
We stood and saluted, then made our way back to the elevator. None of us said anything until we were on our way down to the first floor.
"What do you think's going on in Esthar?" Tal asked. It was obvious that he was worried about his Grandpa and Aunt Ellone.
"If Ellone really did send those visions, doesn't it mean she's being controlled by the sorceress?" Kayla questioned.
"Probably," Luke confirmed.
"Which means that she could be in Esthar," I added.
"We'd better be prepared for anything," Cale suggested.
We agreed. When the elevator came to a stop on the first floor, we found Raine, Morgan and Gavin waiting for us.
"What's going on?" Raine asked, "Why were you all called to the third floor?"
"SeeD business," Tal told her.
Raine gave him a dirty look.
"We're going to Esthar," Kayla told her.
"Why?" This time it was Morgan who spoke.
"No one in Esthar is responding to Garden's calls," Kayla explained, "We're going to make sure everything is okay."
"Do you think something's wrong with Grandpa and Aunt Ellone?" Raine asked her brother.
"I'm sure they're fine," Tal comforted.
"When are you leaving?"
"1100 hours."
"You'll let us know how it turns out, right?" Raine inquired.
"Yeah."
"Okay, see you when you get back."
The younger kids left and the six of us went to the cafeteria to get breakfast. After getting our food, we all sat down at the same table. We had barely started eating when Tal spoke.
"Why do you think that no one in Esthar will respond to Garden's calls?"
"Maybe they can't," Cale suggested.
Tal's face fell. "What do you mean, 'can't'?"
"Maybe there is some kind of technological problem," Cale clarified, "or maybe there's some kind of cosmic interference."
"Yeah," Luke grinned, "maybe the signal is getting lost in Uranus."
The five of us stared at him without humor.
"What? Come on, you don't think that was funny?"
"Grow up," I scoffed.
He glared and turned back to his breakfast.
"I'm serious," Tal insisted, "What if the sorceress went into Esthar and killed everyone?"
"Obviously Ellone's still alive or we wouldn't have been getting those visions," Vaughn reminded.
"But that was days ago," Tal stated, "She could be dead now. And what about my Grandpa? Nobody's heard from him in awhile."
"I'm sure they're both fine," I comforted lamely.
Tal fell silent and the rest of us remained that way until we had finished eating. After the meal, we stood up and headed into the main hall of the Garden. Tal spoke first.
"I'm gonna go back to my room and get ready for the trip to Esthar."
Kayla turned to me. "I'm gonna go with him and keep him company."
"Okay."
The two of them headed towards the dorms, leaving me stuck with the three guys. I admit, it wouldn't have been too bad if we could ditch two of them.
"We should all get ready for the mission," Luke said after Kayla and Tal had left, "We've only got an hour and a half before departure time."
The rest of us agreed and we went back to our rooms. Once alone in mine, I changed and then went though my usual routine of inventorying my magic and supplies. I realized I had a lot of offensive magic because I still had all that the guys had given me in Timber. I decided that I would give it back to them before we got to Esthar. After inventorying my supplies, I sharpened my sais and then looked at my bedside clock. It read 1000 hours. I still had an entire hour to kill before we were supposed to leave. After weighing my options, I decided to go and see what Vaughn was doing. I had thought about checking on Tal and Kayla but I didn't want to intrude. I left my room and headed down the hall to his room.
Once outside, I found myself unwilling to knock. Maybe I should've called first. What if he was busy and didn't want to be bothered. I was just about to leave and go back to my room when a voice spoke in my head.
Mistress, why are you running?
Ember? Long time no talk. Where have you been hiding?
I was not hiding Mistess. I was under the impression that you didn't want my opinion on things.
Aw come on Ember. I was just joking.
Really? So you don't mind my opinions?
No, as long as you're not teasing me.
I have nothing to tease you about, Mistress. You really do like Vaughn.
I grinned. Yes, I do.
Then why are you running away from his room?
I don't want to bother him.
What makes you think you would be bothering him?
I don't know.
Knock on the door. I'm sure he will be happy to see you.
Really?
She didn't answer so I decided to quit being a baby and knock. I did and a few seconds later the door opened. Vaughn smiled when he saw it was me on the other side of the door.
"Hey gorgeous," he greeted, "come to get a quickie before we leave on the mission?"
I scoffed, rolled my eyes and turned to leave. He reached out and grabbed my arm.
"I'm kidding," he insisted, "Come on, don't leave." He stepped aside and I entered his room. "So, what brings you here?"
The door slid shut behind him and I turned to face him. "I got done preparing and I decided to come and see what you were doing."
"Can't stay away from me, can you?"
"Don't flatter yourself," I smirked.
All signs of joking melted from his face and he walked over to me. He cupped my cheek in his hand and kissed me slowly. "I know I can't stay away from you."
I felt myself trembling from the way his touch made me feel so I tried to brush it off. "Don't try to pull that Kinneas Charm crap on me, I won't fall for it."
"Everything I say to you is the truth, no Kinneas Charm about it," he told me in a low voice that made my heart stick in my throat.
"Um, anyway," I started, trying to change the subject, "Are you ready to go?"
"We still have over half an hour until we have to leave," Vaughn reminded.
"I know, I just thought that we could go a little early."
"Why?" Vaughn chuckled, "Am I making you nervous or something?"
I looked at him like he was crazy. "What? Of course not. Why would you make me nervous?"
"I think you're lying."
Luckily for me, before anything else was said, a knock sounded at the door and my brother called through.
"Hey Vaughn, open up!"
"No," Vaughn called, "go away!"
"Why? Is Kaisa in there with you?" This from Cale.
"Open the damn door Vaughn!"
Vaughn sighed and opened the door to my brother and Cale. They entered and Luke's eyes fell on me. He gave me the once over to make sure I was okay I guess, then chose to ignore me. I went and sat on Vaughn's bed as the three of them began to talk about the upcoming mission. After about ten minutes I began to get bored and was wondering if I could sneak out without them knowing when they finally acknowledged that I was still there.
"Ready to head to the hangar?" Vaughn asked.
Uh, yeah, ya think? "Sure."
The four of us walked to the door and headed down the hallway to the main hall. We met up with Kayla and Tal there and the six of us made our way to the Ragnarok hangar. When we got there, we saw that my parents and Tal's parents were already there. Uncle Irvine and Aunt Selphie joined us a few minutes later, as did Uncle Raijin and Aunt Fujin. Uncle Zell was the last to arrive again because he had been sitting with Aunt Cammi, who still showed no signs of awakening. In fact, we were already aboard the Ragnarok and the engines were warming when he boarded, mumbling apologies to Uncle Squall as he took a seat. A few more minutes of preflight checks and we were in the air, on our way to Esthar.