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10. Cissnei
The little girl in Cissnei's arms shivered almost uncontrollably. Cissnei couldn't blame her. If not for all the adrenaline coursing through her, she might have given in to a case of the shakes, too. Instead, she held the girl tighter and hoped Reno was as good as he said he was.
"Best cadet in the whole programme," he snorted. "Sureshot Award winner."
Yeah, she thought privately, for one semester out of nine. The other eight had been Squall's victories. Reno had only gained his moment of glory when the class protégé was too sick to compete. Who knew a person could be so allergic to shellfish?
Reno cocked his gunblade. "I'll cover you."
"Gee, I feel so reassured."
He ignored her sarcasm for once. "Where are we running to?"
Cissnei fumbled for an answer, but the little girl did it for her. "That way," she whispered.
"Huh?" Cissnei said intelligently.
The girl pointed. "We should go that way."
Cissnei exchanged a look with Reno. "Why that way?"
"Hearts."
Reno's eyebrows raised almost into his fiery red hairline. They disappeared somewhere under the goggles he insisted on wearing to piss off the instructors. Goggles were meant to be the trimming on an Air Force Cadet, not a Royal Guard. Reno just loved stirring up trouble for the hell of it. That might be another reason why he wasn't a real contender for Squall's crown, no matter how much he claimed otherwise.
"Don't you mean 'Heartless'?" he asked.
The little girl shook her head and buried her face in Cissnei's shoulder. "There's nobody else left," she sobbed, her voice like a bubble popping on the surface of an oily pool. "Only the ones that way. They're all … all … my Granny is …" Her voice thinned to a wail. Cissnei dusty shoulder grew damp as her lapel crumpled in the girl's fist. "I don't wanna die. I don't want anyone else to die."
"Hush," Cissnei said awkwardly. She wasn't the maternal type. She was the more the bust-your-balls-while-they're-still-attached type. She raised her eyes to Reno, who shrugged.
"You got a better idea?"
"Don't die?" she tried.
"Good plan. Simple yet effective. Lacks a little on the details, though."
A black head studded with yellow eyes rose out of the ground at his feet. He yelped and slashed at it. Each eye went in a different direction. A second later the split head exploded into dust that coated him from head to foot. He blew out a small cloud and coughed like he was trying to hork up a lung.
"We'll figure out the details as we go," he wheezed.