Chapter 4 – Investigative Finality

Over twenty years ago…

The world is a beautiful place.

Balamb is a beautiful place.

Green fields that span for miles. Thick forests, lush with vegetation and wildlife. Great mountain ranges, born from Gaia's attempts to touch the heavens, skirt the north. To the south, the massive ocean laps at Balamb's shores, licking at the sand, reaching for the fields.

The man who walked across the sand did so with his head held high, his steely-blue eyes looking about him in wonderment, at the endless blue of the sky, the soft waves of wind in the field-grass, the fluffy foam of the ocean lapping at the shore. He drew in the smell of the world, scenting sea-salt crisp on his nostrils, the wet dirt and grass to his left.

He had left the train station fifteen minutes ago, the small platform open for the world to see. The delightful steam engine could be seen puffing away as it traveled back to Timber, the thick curls of white smoke billowing into the sky, injecting some clouds into the smooth, endless blue.

The man hefted his backpack and dragged his fingers through his blond, graying hair. He had thought of cutting it before he'd left for his journey, but figured why bother. His cheeks and chin were beginning to grow into a thick blond beard, the edges around his ears and under his chin grey with age. He couldn't be more then forty, yet age was creeping up to him, and it was beginning to show. A dark, sharp tattoo etched itself down the left side of his face, the edges of the bottom stabbing into the beard, disappearing beneath the growth.

He was approaching Balamb town. He could see the small wooden fence encircling the town, the tips of the little huts built within. He could smell the aroma of cooking fish now, and his mouth was beginning to water – his trip had left him hungry, having not eaten before setting out.

He could see the harbour now, almost merely a short wooden jetty and a small boat warehouse beside it. Several people filled the jetty, their fishing lines cast into the sea, watching their lures bob and sway beneath the waves.

As he approached the harbour, he blinked as he found himself approaching a man.

This man sat in a deckchair in the sand, wearing only a pair of shorts, a pair of flip-flops tossed lazily next to a cooler, several discarded beer cans littering the area around the deck-chair. The man had one hand on his fishing rod and the other draped on the butt of a rifle, the weapon laid out over his lap like it belonged there. His head was tossed back, his black hair drifting gently in the wind as his snores rumbled out of his chest, up his windpipe and out of his mouth.

The traveler approached the sleeping man, looking down to him. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, and was fairly well built, his skin, tanned from the Balamb sun, holding a few long and short scars – wounds of battle.

The traveler shifted his backpack on his back and grunted as he smirked, before tapping the nearest leg of the deckchair, trying to make the sleeping man awaken…

…Only to look up to look down the barrel of a rifle, the man's hand having pushed the butt of the rifle up and at the traveler's head. The armed fisherman hadn't even seemed to have moved, his head still flung back like he was studying the sky – but his eyes were still closed, his snores now deadened. His voice was distinctly Balamb in accent as he spoke, his words spoken with a deep tone. "Careful stranger. It's dangerous to wake a sleeping fisherman."

The traveler spread his hands, shrugging as he smiled down to the fisherman. "I've just gotten off the train and was wandering a little. I was looking for a place to stay."

The fisherman still didn't move. Neither did his weapon, the barrel unflinching. "Hotel ain't finished yet." He muttered, the Balamb droll rolling off his tongue. "The town's still in it's 'development phase', as my girlfriend calls it." He turned his head then, opening one eye to cast his single gaze up to the traveler, squinting his hazel eye at the light of the warm sun. "Yer welcome to stay within the walls, but you wont get much of a roof over yer head."

The traveler's smile widened a little. "I guess I'll just rough it then."

"Rough it? You mean camp in the fields?" The fisherman asked, chuckling as he spoke. "We got free-roaming monsters out here, mister. You aint even armed." He waggled his rifle as he spoke.

"Some people don't need to rely on a weapon, ya know?" The traveler replied, moving to a kneeling postion as he spoke, the fisherman being generous to get the rifle's barrel out of his face as he spoke.

"Oh no?" The fisherman asked, sitting up now, looking down at the traveler as he removed his backpack and his jacket. "What then? You got a gun in that pack of yours?"

"Nope." The traveler replied with a cheeky smile as he reached into the pack – to pull out a small case. Opening the case, he removed a small rod – then another, and another, screwing each rod into place before finally making a fishing rod. He attached the reel as he spooled the fishing line out, through the loops on the rods.

"C'mon stranger, don't leave me in suspense here – unless you plan to fish yer way out of a fight!" The fisherman said with a grin.

"I use my body." The traveler replied, knotting on a lure and sinker before standing to cast the line out into the water, the lure plopping into the sea only a few meters away from the fisherman's line. "I'm a martial artist."

"Aha! A pugilist!" The fisherman called out with glee, lifting the rifle up and out of his lap to place it down in the sand beside him. "Not many of them around these days."

"Well, I'm hoping to fix that…" The traveler muttered wistfully, taking a seat in the sand beside the fisherman.

The man suddenly leaned out of his deckchair, the chair creaking audibly with the strain of supporting his weight as he put out an outstretched hand. "The name's Patrick Dincht."

The traveler took the man's hand within his own, feeling the warm grip tighten in his own. "Pleasure." He said with a nod.

Patrick retrieved his hand from the stranger and sat back in his chair, still looking at the man as he tugged on his rod for a second, trying to get the fish to bite. "...You got a name, or am I supposed to give you one all on my own?"

The stranger smiled a mysterious little smile. "…Part of me wants to let you go ahead, and see what you come up with."

Patrick laughed at that, but kept quiet, a small glint in his eye.

The traveler remained silent, watching the waves lap at the shore, watching his line swimming around lazily.

"Hmph. Fine then." Patrick muttered, reaching over his deckchair to flick the lid off his cooler and reach into it to pull out a beer. He looked at the beer's label for a second, a small smile spreading over his face – before tossing it to the stranger. "I'll call you… Barque. Since I cant think of anything better."

Barque caught the beer and opened it, the lid hissing as he cracked the top and lifted it to his lips. "Barque it is then." He said with a grin. "Does it suit me?"

Patrick smirked down at Barque, reaching into his cooler to take up a beer of his own. "Not really." He said, cracking open his own and shaking the foam from the top. "To be honest, you seem more like a…"

"Fucking motherfucker!"

"Dee! Watch your language!"

Dee sat up, the snow covering her falling to reveal a very angry, cold and wet Immortal girl. She looked about herself, her sudden rage subsiding as she saw all her friends sitting around her, Angel frowning still from having to scold her, Quistis looking annoyed as usual, Selphie looking a bit sleepy. The snow fell around them as she looked up to them. "Wha – what? Where is he?!"

"The sniper? You fought him?" Quistis asked, her eyes steely as she looked down to the girl.

Dee nodded, coughing suddenly before spitting out some blood. "Y-yeah…and he was good."

"Good?" Rinoa called, walking back from one of the crumpled domes and crouching down beside Dee. "You're lucky to be alive!"

The girl pouted, wiping the blood from her lips. "…I guess…" She muttered sullenly as Angel helped her to her feet.

"Did you get a good look at him?" Quistis asked.

"…Sorry. Was too busy getting the crap kicked out of me."

"Are you sure?!"

"I told you, no!"

"Dammit!" Quistis shouted. She turned away from the others and walked over to one of the wrecked domes, kicking the snow away from her feet as she walked.

"What's her problem?!" Dee spat as she was helped to her feet, wincing and gripping her stomach as her muscles pinched in protest.

"We have no lead now." Selphie said quietly, watching Quistis standing away from them, fuming silently. "With Julius and Veronica we could have figured out a way to counter-act the virus…but now we have to look for them. And we don't know how much time we have before Freedom…"

"Gods! What is it with assuming it's Freedom?!" Dee cried, throwing her hands in the air. "Why have we automatically assumed it's all our fault!? It could just as easily be a magic spell, or another Sorceress, or…"

"Dee, please." Angel whispered, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder reassuringly. "…Nobody thinks this is our fault."

"You could've fooled me!"

"Enough! Shut up!" Shouted Rinoa. "Fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to solve any of this!"

Dee bit her lip as she looked at Rinoa, the snow falling onto her contrasting with the inky blackness of her hair, shooting daggers at the sorceress as she balled her fists, the older woman shooting her gaze straight back to her, the freedom-fighter princess unflinching under the young girl's burning eyes…before the young Immortal turned away from the group, wincing as she walked away from them, grasping her stomach.

"Dee…" Angel called, taking a step to follow her…

…Before Rinoa reached out to grab her arm, holding her in her place. "No. Give her a minute."

"But…"

"No Angel! We can't let our emotions get the better of us, we need to think!"

"Rinoa's right." Quistis muttered coldly, trudging back through the snow to join them once more. Her pretty face was still twisted slightly, her frown creased, like she was holding her anger in check. Her voice was like shards of permafrost, digging into Angel's ears as she spoke. "Our one lead is now dead. What else do we have?"

The girls fell silent for a moment. Selphie sat back down in the snow, a dejected look on her face. Rinoa rubbed her chin, cupping her elbow in her hand as she looked up into the cloudy sky. Quistis had her arms folded under her chest, her bottom lips moving into her mouth as she bit the skin gently. Angel placed her hands in her pockets, looking over to Dee, who was leaning against a dome with her side, her back to them as her hands rubbed her arms, shivering in the cold.

The steam curled up from Rinao's mouth as she blew her air out forcefully, as if the steam were her worries and she was trying to dispel them as best she could. She watched the steam curl up into the sky, snowflakes cutting through the cloud easily…before it clicked. "Train…"

"Whu…?" Selphie mumbled, looking up to her.

"The train this morning. Those men. We never got to find out why they attacked us." Rinao shrugged her shoulders, her hands spreading as she spoke. "Perhaps it is connected. I mean, the Sorceress Heroes get attacked mere minutes before every man gets sick?"

As Rinoa spoke, Quistis closed her eyes, her face blank as she pinched the bridge of her nose, rubbing it between her gloved fingers. By the almighty Hyne, why didn't I think of that?! "…Good point, Rinoa." She said out loud. "For all we know, they are the ones responsible. And it's not like we have any other place to be at the moment. We'll set out for Galbadia immediantly."

Rinoa helped Selphie up as Quistis walked past them, heading towards the ship. We walked past Dee, who didn't move, Angel coming up behind her to walk to her side, crouching down to look up to her. The young girl's face was puffy, her eyes shining. She'd obviously been trying not to cry in front of the others.

Angel didn't speak as Rinoa and Selphie stood behind her, waiting for her to move. She simply took Dee's hand and pulled on it gently, the young girl allowing herself to be lead away by the woman.

Five hours later, after a moodily silent trip in the boat, they arrived on Deling Beach, just west of the Tomb of the Unknown King. As they disembarked Angel looked up over the shoreline, to the cliffs raising up to the Tomb, and the grassy fields surrounding them. She remembered the times Zell had taken her there when they were on leave together, him carrying the picnic basket as he watched her run in the field, chasing butterflies and looking at the amazing entrance to the crypt in awe. They would sit outside the tomb all day, Zell telling her stories of Squall, Rinoa and himself walking in circles again and again and again, Squall refusing to take direction from Rinoa stubbornly, Zell finally finding the Brothers and getting them to join with them…

…Then he would unpack the Tent and they would sit on the edge of the cliffs at night, watching the water crash against the rocks below and tracing patterns in the foam of the waves as they rolled towards the cliff-face. Zell would have his arm around her shoulders, holding her close to him, and she would look up to him, his tattooed face framed by the starry night sky and glowing warmly from the tiny campfire, and would lean up to press her lips against his…

"Hey!"

Angel jumped suddenly, her mind snapping into focus. She looked over to Selphie, blinking hard at her. "W-wha?"

"You zoned out a little there Angie…" Selphie whispered as the others walked in front of them. "This ain't the time to daydream."

"I know Selphie…I'm just tired, stressed…" Angel sighed with fatigue, running her hands down her face. The blank blackness of the tranqulizers hadn't been refreshing, the girls having been left lying flat in the cold as the snow fell softly onto them. They'd all managed to warm up within the small, enclosed SeeD ship, but sleep hadn't come easily, or at all – they were all too wired, pulled taut like rubber-bands ready to snap.

Already their nerves were fraying, and with good reason. They had accomplished nothing in the twelve hours since the men had all begun to die – judging by how the civilians had been dropping, the boys didn't have much time left.

And, although the girls had no way of telling, they could feel the end looming, like a chill that touched their spines and causing their bodies to tremble in a mixture of fear and loathing.

Everything seemed to take longer then normal. Walking, breathing, blinking. Time had been permanently Slowed, replaced by the unrelenting truth of their situation – that if they didn't find something, anything, soon to repair this damage, then…

They all didn't try to think about it, even talk about it. If they did that…it might come true.

The sight as they reached the gates of the city didn't make them feel any better. Already the Galbadian Army had stepped in to take over the situation, the female soldiers riding around the city in trucks or jeeps, collecting the bodies of the dead men to be taken elsewhere for decontamination.

Selphie stuck close to Rinoa and Quistis as she watched a woman wail as the soldiers walked out of an apartment tenement, carrying a dead body by the arms and legs. The woman, barely forty, grasped the armoured shoulder-plates of one of the soldiers, screaming for them to drop her husband, to allow her to give him a proper burial – but she was shrugged off by the soldier, barked at by the other as they hefted the dead body onto the pile on the back of the truck, the woman throwing herself to the pavement and weeping as the two women walked back into the apartment to search for any other corpses.

"Its horrible…" Dee whispered as she walked past the truck – to see tens of them lining the roadsides, each with two soldiers walking back and forth into homes and apartment buildings, piling the corpses higher and higher. "…Its unbearable…why…"

"Disease control." Quistis muttered. "The city needs to get rid of the corpses before they begin to rot and draw animals and sickness."

Her voice was cold, efficient, like a robot, and Rinoa shot a look at her as she walked. It was fine to quell your emotions – but to wipe them out completely, that was…well, like…Squall. The Sorceress bit her tongue, however. They both knew Quistis couldn't replace Squall, no matter how hard she tried – but pointing out each other's flaws weren't going to get them anywhere. She and Quistis had never seen eye-to-eye in the first place – what with Rinoa's Sorceress powers overshadows Quistis' Blue magic, plus the obvious rivalry between student factions over who was the most pretty out of the two of them…

A commotion was happening a few blocks down. As the women neared it, it became obvious that one of the women who had lost her husband wasn't going to give up his body so easily. Having overpowered the soldiers who had been sent into her house, a women had barricaded herself within her home, the butt of a Galbadian army rifle poking out of the mail-flap of her door. "You'll have to kill me before I'll let you take him!" She screamed out the door. "Nobody is going to take him from me!!"

"Lady, we need to do this! People might get sick otherwise!"

"So what?! We're dead anyways! The virus has killed all the men, now its just a matter of time before we're dead!!"

"Please be reasonable! We have people trying to work something out!"

The soldiers weren't having much luck, and one of them broke down into tears as the SeeDs passed. "Gods, I don't want to do this! I just want to get it over and done with!! Cant you see that?! Cant you see we don't want to do this?!"

The SeeDs said nothing as the walked past, keeping their eyes down as they passed similar situations. A little girl crying with her mother, the grown woman hugging her tightly to stop her from seeing the scared look on her face. The old lady sitting on the ground beside the body of her husband, waiting solemnly for the soldiers to come and praying that Death touches her soon. A teenager, bleeding from the forehead, receiving medical attention as she watched the car her father had been driving burn on the side of the road with her parents still trapped within through tear-soaked eyes.

When they reached the train station, they were surprised to find it completely overrun with Galbadian SeeDs, the efficient mercenaries filling out the platforms as they pored over the wreck that was left of the carriage that the girls had ridden into the city only hours before.

"What are all these G-SeeDs doing here?" Selphie asked as she saw a trio of women approach them.

"This area is restricted under SeeD jurisdiction." Said the leader, the trio stopping before them. "No civilians are allowed inside. If you wish to see your families abroad you must wait for appropriate transportation to become available."

"I'm Instructor Quistis of Balamb Garden." Quistis said formally, saluting to the girl.

"I.D.?" The girl asked, not returning the salute.

Angel sighed as everybody grudgingly pulled out their SeeD IDs. This was Galbadia SeeD to the letter – not so much a school as a machine which churned out automatons designed for war. The girl before them was barely sixteen, yet she had a blank look in her eyes as she studied the IDs, like she wasn't living at the moment. Angel had done a few missions with some G-SeeDs before – the blank stare was usually replaced by…something else during a fight. G-SeeDs were especially known for their violent tendencies and solutions to problems.

Most people didn't think of this as a problem, however. There was a reason why Galbadia SeeD was bigger and better equipped then Balamb – of the jobs they took on, they were usually the most dangerous – ergo, the most lucrative.

"You three check out." The girl said, before nodding to Dee and Rinoa. "…But these two must to stay here."

"What? Why?" Dee asked in protest.

Quistis sighed, rubbing the bridge of her noser again. "Because you're both not SeeDs."

"I'm not?" Rinoa asked, a surprised look on her face as she looked down at the ID. "Damn, I knew I needed to take an exam or something…"

"They're with us. We'll keep an eye on them." Angel said to the robot.

"Negative." It replied.

Dee snorted her breath out of her nose, cracking her knuckles audibly by squeezing her fists together. The three G-SeeDs instantly focused their gaze on her, one unsnapping the holster on her pistol whilst the other moved her hand behind her back to the nun-chaku tucked into her belt.

Quistis turned, holding a hand up to the G-SeeDs as well as Dee. "Hold it you guys! We don't need this…"

"Attention!" A woman suddenly crowed, the G-SeeDs snapping to attention, their spines becoming like rigid poles as their arms slapped to their sides and their legs snapped together.

Selphie smiled as Fujin walked up behind the robots, her one razor-sharp eye fixed on the trio. "Hey, it's Fuji!"

"Dismissed!!" Fujin barked at the G-SeeDs, who saluted simultaneously and, as one, twisted on their heels and walked back into the station. The white-haired woman turned back to the Balamb SeeDs and gave them a rare smile, tiny as it was. "Complete jurisdiction. Headmaster Cid. Contact immediantly." She said to Quistis, who nodded.

"Lead me to the command centre, I'll call him there." She said to Fuijin, who tuned and walked quickly, the girls having to step up their pace to catch up.

"How the heck do you understand what she says?" Dee asked Selphie, watching Fujin walk and thinking that she had a wind-up doll that acted the same way.

"Bah, she just doesn't like to mess with words. She lets you fill in the blanks." Selphie said with a smirk. "If you don't get it, its your problem."

"Ah…" Dee said, a worried look on her face. "…Hope we don't have to work together for long…so what did she…?"

"Since Balamb SeeDs were attacked, Balamb SeeDs are the ones doing the investigation." Selphie replied, translating efficiently, having done it several times for Zell and Irvine in the past. "The G-SeeDs are probably just making sure nobody sneaks onto the platforms. Headmaster Cid needs to talk to Quistis, so that's where we're heading now…"

"No we're not." Quistis muttered as she mounted the escalator, gripping the rail as they began to move down to the platforms. "I'll go and contact Cid. Selphie, Dee, you check the train for clues. Fujin, Angel and Rinoa, you check the bodies of our attackers. You all know the drill."

"Heh…I've had to loot a corpse or two for info in my time." Rinoa said confidently as they stepped off the escalator. "This will be a piece of…cake…"

Her voice trailed off as she looked down the platform. Somehow the SeeDs had managed to gather up the other carriages from down the tracks, as well as any bodies that might have been flung out of the train during their trip. They were all laid out, almost five deep head-to-feet, down the entire platform. "T-there must be at least two hundred people here!" Rinoa breathed.

"Standard capacity for the trains are around a thousand…" Selphie whispered sadly, taking Rinoa's hand and giving it a squeeze before taking Dee's hand and leading her to the wreckage, Dee looking at all the bodies with a flabbergast expression on her face.

Fujin sighed with irritation as she watched Quistis walk to the command centre, a small tent full of communications equipment, at the end of the track. "Bitch…" She growled when she was out of earshot, before looking up to Angel and Rinoa. "Preference?"

"…I guess I'll take this row…" Angel said quietly, taking a pair of plastic gloves from a table just where the rows started. She paused for a moment to take off her engagement ring, slipping it into her pocket, before pulling the gloves on, snapping them around her wrists.

It wasn't a glorious business. The majority of the men weren't in the best of shape, having been beaten or slashed or shot to death. They all stunk, and rigor mortis had well and truly set in, making movement difficult. Not to mention you were feeling up a corpse.

Rinoa gagged a little as she pulled the hood off one to see that he had no face. "Gods…don't we have people who do this for us?"

"Local police. Busy." Fujin muttered, lifting up a guy's arm with a grunt, the ligament in his shoulder crunching as it lifted straight up in the air, like he was pointing at the ceiling.

Angel patted her man down. This wasn't your typical SeeD gig. SeeDs were mercenaries – they came in, fixed a problem, and left the local authorities to pick up the pieces. Since it's rare anybody would be stupid enough to attack SeeDs, it was uncommon for SeeD members to actually perform things such as autopsies or forensics. They do get trained in some forensics – but they weren't crime scene investigators.

"Finally, a guy with a face." Rinoa said out loud, pulling the hood down to look him over. The man looked like he was asleep, and would've almost seemed handsome if it wasn't for the masses upon masses of tattooes covering his face. "Okay, that's a little creepy…do any of your guys have an inky skin complexion as well?" Rinoa asked the others as she pulled down his collar to see the tattoos moved further down his neck and onto his torso.

"Affirmative." Fujin said, pulling out a knife to cut open her man's shirt, revealing his torso. It had been shaved bald, the tattoos spreading to every inch of flesh, even to his bare underarms. Fujin licked the end of her gloved finger and rubbed the skin vigorously before looking at her finger – nothing. "Permanent." She confirmed with a nod.

Angel stood up from her man, fingering something she had pulled out of his pocket. "What have you found in the pockets of yours?"

Rinoa looked over the bodies she had searched so far. "…Some candy, some spare change, one guy had some Triple Triad cards…"

"Same." Fujin said, pulling out some cards from the man's pocket before dumping it onto his chest, along with a handful of coins.

"The money…how much did they have?"

Rinoa stood and looked down her row. "Erm…this guy has about seven gil in coins…"

"Same." Fuijin repeated slowly, looking down at the spare change on the man's chest and moving it around with her finger, counting it in her head.

"And what currency is it?" Angel asked, her eyes narrow.

"Well its…Galbadian." Rinoa said with a frown, confused.

"Same." Fujin murmured.

"Stop that!!" Rinoa shouted to Fujin.

Angel looked down at the cash in her hand. Exactly seven gil. Precisely the amount of money left if you wish to catch a train from Deling to Timber and back again. She'd done the trip hundreds of times as a child, travelling to Timber with her parents to look at the animals at the Pet Shop. Esthar, Balamb and FH all used their own currency too – although you could use gil anywhere, some shops in the major cities only took the country-of-origin's currency as true payment. "…They're all from Galbadia. All of them." Angel stated firmly. "The coins prove it."

Rinoa cocked her head to one side. "Erm…how do you know that?"

Fujin rolled her eyes and slapped her hand into her face. "Bimbo…"

"I am not!"

In the train, Dee was holding Selphie by the legs as Selphie craned over the edge of the broken carriage, looking at the underbelly of the metal container. "Nothin here. Lets move up."

With a grunt Dee pulled Selphie back, the smaller girl wriggling on the ground for a moment before getting onto her feet. They had all around the interiors of several carriages, but aside from bullet casings and blood, they hadn't found much to go on. Selphie had the bright idea of looking for pieces of the bombs that had been planted – if there were any remnants, they could figure out where they originated from the model and make of the explosives and primers.

Dee looked Selphie up and down as she picked her way through the bullet-riddled compartment. The small girl was lithe on her feet, her bubbly energy seeming to emanate from her legs and move up her body like a shock wave. She regularly hopped about like an energizer bunny, and normally it made Dee's head spin. She wasn't a prude either, having agreed to go skinny-dipping with Dee one time in the girl's spa-room in the Dorms. They had laughed and had a good time. Selphie had looked so beautiful, her cheeks rosy from the hear as her chocolate hair fell around her face, framing her pretty green eyes and cute little nose…

To be fair, it would be a lie if Dee said she didn't have a tiny crush on Selphie. "Selph…" Dee said suddenly, her voice heavy with…something.

Selphie span to look at Dee, her eyes wide in a 'whats wrong' look – before she placed her foot down on a bullet casing, causing her to slip and fall to the floor with a thud. She was up on her feet in an instant, jerking on her top to rectify her ample bosoms as she looked at Dee once more. "Yeah?"

Dee stifled a giggle as they moved on. "…Selph…are you happy here?"

Selphie looked back to Dee with a wry grin and a small frown. "A bit of a strange question to be asking now, right?"

"I know…I mean, that's not…I was just wondering…when we get Daddy and Irvine and Squall and everybody better…"

"What then?" Selphie asked as they neared the end of the carriage, the area where the wall and door was supposed to be replaced with a gaping hole. "Well, we go and catch the little so-and-so's who thought they could pull this off and get away with it! Hands!"

Selphie knelt down on the floor and pushed the upper half of her body over the edge of the opening. As she bent down over the edge, Dee grabbed the ankles of her boots and moved forward slowly, taking all of Selphie's weight as Dee lowered her completely over the edge, so Selphie was looking at the undercarriage. This was the exact spot where the bomb would've been the most efficient to blow apart the carriages whilst moving, and it was impossible to get to it from the outside. It was a good thing Dee was a very strong girl – Selphie would've never been able to hang down like this by herself.

"…That's not what I…I mean, I was wondering if…oh, never mind…" Dee called down to Selphie as she dangled in Dee's arms. "…I just wish Daddy was here."

"I know! He coulda sniffed those bombs out in a second! I swear, Zell must be one part human two parts sniffer-hound!"

"This isn't right…"

Fujin looked up at Angel as the girl inspected one of the bodies, turning the head left and right, feeling the torso by placing her hands on the ribs and chest, pushing against them to see if there was any give. "Problem?" Fuijin asked.

"…I cant quite tell how this man died."

Fujin frowned at that – before shrugging. "Virus?"

Angel sat back on her haunches, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand as she did. "That's what I thought at first, but there's no symptoms of the virus…his eyes are fine, his mouth is clean, he's just…dead."

Fujin's frown furrowed deeper as she stood from her body to walk over to Angel's, crouching down next to the girl to inspect the body for herself. Rinoa, looking up to see the other two converseing down the line, quickly got up and joined them, happy for the break in the macabre work. "Whats up?"

"I cant tell how this guy died." Angel explained as Fujin looked at the man's head, pushing and prodding on the skull and cheekbones before twisting his head left and right, inspecting the neck. "I don't think it was the virus either. I cant find any signs of it on his body."

"Erm, yeah…I think I might have found a few like that too." Rinoa confessed sheepishly, blushing in embarrisement as Fujin shot a look up at her. "Hey, I just thought it was the virus, not something else…"

Fujin snorted at that before looking back down at the corpse, slipping her fingers under his neck, feeling along the skin, her eyes narrowing as her gloved hands felt something…peculiar. "Roll." She commanded the others as she slipped her hands under his shoulder, Angel slipping her hands under his hips, Rinoa grabbing his robes and all three girls hefting the dead weight up and over, Rinoa squealing as he fell against her bare legs.

As she scrambled out from under him, brushing her legs clean of the invisible filth and trying not to gag, Angel and Fujin both craned their heads down close to the skin on the nape of the man's neck. Fujin was running her finger across the tattooed flesh again, trying to find what she had found before…before pressing down hard. "There."

"Where?" Angel asked, scooting a little closer as Fujin removed her finger from the skin.

"There." Fujin repeated.

Angel grumbled inwardly. It was so difficult so see anything on the skin thanks to all the damned ink, but slowly she figured it out. Right in the centre of the neck, just over where the spine and the skull met, was a miniscule injection mark, a circle with a dot in the centre.

"What is it?" Rinoa asked.

"…I don't know." Angel replied, heaving a sigh as she leant back again.

"Poison?" Fujin asked. "Suicide?"

"Perhaps…but why?" Angel mused, lifting her hand to rub her chin in thought. "If these guys knew about the virus, why not just become infected with it instead of killing themselves?"

Fujin was silent for a moment – before pointing to the tatooes and grabbing the brown robe. "Nutbags."

Rinoa chuckled at that. Her laughter was cut short, however, as Quistis approached them. "Hey! How did your report to Cid go?"

Quistis looked like she was going to be ill. Her face, usually a healthy pallor, was slightly pale, and her eyes were full of sadness. "Cid…is dead."

"What?!" Angel exclaimed in surprise.

"Explanation." Fujin stated grimly.

Quistis sighed heavily as she folded her arms under her chest, looking down at the bodies surrounding them as she spoke quietly. "…The virus. He fought it for as long as he could, but…it took him soon after we left for Trabia, and he died about three hours ago. Xu has been trying to contact us, but whoever had followed us must've scrambled our communicators."

"No…" Rinoa whispered, her hands to her mouth, tears in her eyes as she tried to keep the horror at bay.

"Plans?" Fujin asked, pushing herself to her feet.

Quistis let out another sigh before clearing her throat, trying to keep her game together. "Matron is going to come and take over for him with Ellone and the White SeeDs. They should be in Galbadia within the hour. In the meantime, Xu recommends checking the security cameras while we still can. See what we can see before and after all this occurred that can shed some light on all this. What have you found so far?"

Angel got up silently, wiping a tear away from her face as she did. "W-we think they're from Galbadia, but we're not so sure…and we think that some had killed themselves during or before the attack."

"Why would they do that?" Quistis remarked curiously.

"Hey hey hey!!"

The four women looked up to see Selphie running at them from the other end of the platform holding what speared to be a briefcase in her hands, her arms outstretched as she ran as if she was trying to keep it as far away from her as possible. Running over piles of corpses isn't all that easy, however, especially when you don't like the sound of their bones crunching as you step on them, so as Selphie neared the four women she got her foot caught in a hood of a robe, the briefcase sailing out of her hands as she wailed out in panic, hitting the bodies as the briefcase landed before the girls and popped open, a mixture of wires, lumps of clay and a bleeping timer greeting them.

Rinoa, Quistis, Angel and Fujin could do nothing but look down at the bomb with sharply increasing panic as they heard the bleeping grow faster and faster, something clicking within the mess of wires, before –

Nothing.

"Sorry." Dee said, running over to the briefcase and picking it up, Selphie gingerly following after her. "Um, we found a bomb."

Rinoa, Quistis, Angel and Fujin all stared at the two girls, the foursome quivering slightly as they felt the sudden shot of adrenaline slowly leave their bodies to be replaced by intense rage. "No shit." Rinoa said flatly, wondering if Dee's reflexes were good enough to catch her Pinwheel from point-blank range…

"Don't worry, I disarmed it. I think." Dee said uncertainly, twisting the briefcase around to look into the mess of wires and rip out a few more with her bare hand…followed by a few more.

"The case and the parts are all Galbadian in make." Selphie said, looking to the case and it's explosive contents. "But the way its all put together was reeeeal sophisticated. Not, like, genius level, like someone from FH…more like an Estharian on a budget."

Quistis frowned at this information, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she turned to walk away from the others, Rinoa, Angel and Fujin converging on the surprised Dee and Selphie. The sounds of punching and shouts were drowned out by Quistis' brain clicking into overdrive as she began to place all the pieces together.

Okay…we have Galbadian men dressed in robes and tattooed all over their skin. Their appearance implies a type of religious, ritualistic following. The suicides also imply some kind of ritual being held. Perhaps some type of self-sacrifice? Freaks like these tend to keep to themselves, however – so why have Estharian techniques in bomb-making if you're from Galbadia?

Quistis turned back to the others. Rinoa was on top of Selphie'a back, yanking on her hair as the smaller girl cried out in pain. Dee had Angel behind her, her arm around her neck and her fist bopping into Dee's head as Dee squared off on Fujin, her fists raised. "Come – ow - on you – ow - one-eyed bitch, come – ow - get some! Ow! Ma!!"

"GUYS!" Quistis called, Rinoa's hair tugging slowly grinding to a halt, Dee's palm pushing Fujin's face up and away as Fujin gripped the lapels of her jacket slowly easing off on the pressure as Quistis gathered all their attention. Even Angel hopped off Dee's back. "We don't have time for petty squabbling. Selphie, Fujin, you two stay here with me. Angel, Rinoa, Dee, you three take a car to Timber. When you get there, I want you to take a look at all the security tapes for this morning. We're looking for any sign of these men. What times they got onto the platform, what times they bought their tickets, numbers, directions they came from, anything you can find. We'll be doing the same here. Alright?"

The four girls before her mumbled their affirmations, Dee straightening her jacket, Fujin correcting her eyepatch, Selphie patting down her hair whilst glaring up to Rinoa who was poking her tongue out at her and Angel smiling sheepishly to Quistis.

Quistis let out a long, slow breath, closing her eyes briefly to stop them from watching her roll them in exasperation. Squall makes this seem so easy…how he managed to run our rag-tag bunch for so long will always be beyond me.

Then she opened them, determination within her azure gaze. "Then move out already!!"

Only a few years ago…

Snow is falling hard as the students dash about, panic filling them as the announcements are called out over the loud speaker systems. The shards of ice are razor sharp, slashing at the children like a Snow Lion's talons as they gathered outside the main building, huddling together for warmth as the clouds rained death down around them.

One child, only recently joined Garden, excited at the notion of fighting and magic and battling great evil, was crying and wailing along with his fellow classmates as their classroom on the top floor was destroyed by fire from the sky, something roaring from the clouds to slam into the side of the building, detonating within and blowing it apart.

"Stay together children! Stay together!!" The Instructor cried out over the explosions, ducking down as debris littered the sky. "GROUND! Hit the ground!!"

The group flattened as stone and wood and plastic rained down upon them. Children were pummeled by rocks as big as their heads, blood and screams filling the air as the instructor looked up. "Stay together children!! Stay together!!"

Suddenly something creaked and exploded, a loud roar filling the sky. The panic everybody was feeling was suddenly heightened as one thought flew through everybody's heads.

The Training Centre had been blown open.

And the monsters were free.

Headmaster Wakka was running within the central square, flanked by three SeeD, racing for the Training Centre. "We haf-ta keep dem monsters in de Trainin' Centre! If you cant scare em off, take em out!" He shouted to the three behind him –

Before they were all crushed as something exploded above them, sending a large chunk of ceiling down atop of them.

Wakka almost dropped his blitzball in shock, the large man shouting out in rage as he turned – to witness all kinds of monster begin to crawl, slither and flit out of the open entrance to the Training Centre. "What'n all of hell is goin' on here already?!" He shouted as he pegged his blitzball at one of the monsters, a mess of tentacles being blown back into the Training Centre, only to be replaced by a set of fangs that leapt at the Headmaster, the ball rebounding into his grasp only a split-second too slow –

As a loud bang reported within the great square, the set of fangs alighting into burning flame, shrieking as it fell to the floor, writhing in agony. Wakka turned, his eyes wide, to spy a long figure walking slowly towards him, the rifle in his hands firing again and again, explosions setting off at the door forcing the monsters back, recoiling in fear and pain.

"Barque!" Wakka cried, holding his hand out for Barque to slap in a classic 'gimme-five' fashion. "Boy, is you a pain in me eyes!"

Barque kept the rifle shouldered, the Dincht Mark One kept leveled at the Training Centre entranceway as he spared a second to shoot a look to Wakka with his one good eye. "What are you doing in here?" He shouted, ice falling from his beard as his mouth opened, his hair wild as it hung around his face.

"I was about to stop dem monsters from scurryin' outta here, but I guess I can get back to gettin' me chillins outta here in one bit! Where all dese missiles comin from, bro?!"

"Galbadia. Edea's gone psycho and decided to blow the Gardens to hell and back."

"Edea? Whose Edea, bro?" Wakka asked, confused, as another explosion rocked the entire facility. "Wasn't that tool Deling runnin' the show down dere?"

Barque looked at Wakka, a pained look in his one eye. "Don't ask too many questions Wak, just get the kids outta here!"

"Yea, you'se right bro!" Wakka crowed. "I'mma gonna go make sure the evac points is bein' cleared and dese kids are gettin' outta here!" He began to set out in a jog, before pausing for a moment. "I'se didn't think I'se see youse around Garden again, man! Youse keep yerself in one piece, ya know?!"

"Forget about that shit, Wak, it was all bullshit anyways! Just get those damned kids outta here, I'm gonna go check on the dorms, see if there's anybody left alive after the last barriage!"

Wakka's eyes went wide as Barque began to run for the dorms. "No dude, dorms are dangerous bro! Bro!!"

His words fell on deaf ears as Barque sprinted for the dorms, twisting down corridors and kicking doors in, shouting at anybody he found to get the hell out of here, cursing when he came across empty rooms. He'd holstered his DM1 in his shoulder-holster, slipping the rifle barrel-first over his shoulder into the holster strapped across his back.

He had cleared the majority of the dorm rooms when he finally came to them – the SeeD quarters. The entire section was in shambles, reduced to nothing but sparking wires and collapsed ceiling and walls. Knick-knacks and pictures were strewn all over the place, chairs and beds ripped to shreds by debris.

Barque's one good eye surveyed the carnage as his hands pulled his hair back into a ponytail, freeing up his ears to listen. All he could hear was the creaking of the walls, their foundations ruined, the rustles of paper and cloth, distant explosions and the pitiful cries that followed – before his eye widened as he heard something closer…

He stepped forward into the rubble, trudging through the ruined stone, to come across a piece of ceiling that had fallen down, propped up against something that was providing it support. He pressed his ear against this piece of rubble, narrowing his eye as he fought to suppress all the other noises outside – before he heard it again.

A single sob.

Looking left and right, seeing that there was nobody around, Barque squatted down at the foot of the fallen ceiling. Slipping his fingers down into the rubble, he found the edges of the concrete roof and, curling his fingers around it, lifted it up, the piece of rubble groaning and creaking, pieces of it falling off the edges and dust filling the air as he pushed the massive slab up with a grunt, before extending his arms fully, lifting the ceiling high up into the air, at least ten tons supported by him and him alone.

With pebbles and dust falling around him, he looked at what was behind the wall.

A missile, long and smooth, thick and wide, was jutting out of the ground, it's pointed tip only just buried into the ground. It had travelled all the way from Galbadia to Trabia only to have the ceiling slow it's descent just enough for it not to go off.

Barque could see what was making the sobbing noise. A man, satting haphazardly on the ground, his massive shoulders heaving as he wept. He was covered in dust, his shirt torn and ruined, blood seeping from the many injuries he had sustained when the ceiling had collapsed. He had something in his arms…something that was bleeding.

"Julius." Barque called, causing the man to turn his head slightly towards him. "Leave her boy. She's already gone."

Julius looked down at the dead Veronica in his arms and felt nothing but intese despair. "S-she's dead…she's dead and I'm not…"

"I know, boy. But you have to keep going."

"I cant…I cant keep going w-without her…"

Barque let out an irritated grunt, lowering one of his arms to grip the boy's neck. He wrenched the boy back, causing him to scream out in pain and rage as he flew back out into the corridor. The boy recovered quickly, blood spilling from his wounds as he cried out, seeing the lifeless body of his loved one lying there all alone, and raced forward to be with her again –

Before Barque dropped the ceiling back down, sealing Julius off from his loved one.

The boy slammed into the stone with a wet splat, blood smearing on the wall as he slid down it, before he hooked his hands under the edges and tried to lift it, straining and grunting as he tried to move the immovable – before Barque suddenly grabbed him again, gripping him by the throat, lifting him up high, casting his single eye upon the boy with a mix of anger and contempt. "What are you doing boy?!" He roared.

"S-she's s-still i-in there..." Julius wheezed as he grabbed and hit at Barque's arm, the old man's muscles like solid iron, his grip immovable.

"She's dead boy! Her body was crushed by the missile! There is nothing you can do for her at this moment, but…!"

Julius let out a pitiful wail, his arms going limp, resigning himself to his death at the hands of this strange, tattooed man – before the old man slammed his head into the wall behind him, causing his eyes to focus on him. "Nothing you can do for her at this moment, BUT…you can still save her!"

The boy was locked in the man's grip, snorting blood onto his hand and wrist. "W-what?! That's…impossible!"

This seemed to make his attacker angry. Julius groaned as the old man'd grip tightened around his throat, slowly crushing his larynx as his head was pushed against the wall, the stone cracking underneath the immense pressure. "Nothing is impossible boy! Nothing at all! Even death can be overcome – fuck, death can be made insignificant!! You just need to keep your faith! You just need to believe that you will get her back one day!"

Julius's grip on the old man's arm was beginning to weaken. "H-how-w…?"

Barque dropped the boy then, Julius hitting the ruined ground with a spluttered cough, blood splattering onto the ground as Barque spoke. "The way will find you, boy. Eventually, it'll find you. It might take days, weeks, even perhaps years. But you'll get your woman back, and you'll feel her warm touch again. All you need to do is believe that it will happen."

Barque's one eye flashed in the light as Julius looked up to him, standing strong and steady in such a bleak and desolute setting…and yet, a sense of destiny suddenly overwhelmed him, causing him to move to his feet, causing him to look back at the old man, stare him into his one good eye and speak with no pain, but determination.

"How?" He croaked, his voice betraying the state his body was in.

"Later. For now we need to get you patched up and…"

"There he is!" Someone suddenly shouted, causing Barque to twirl to the source – and swear violently as he saw Faculty members begin to pour into the area, their big flat hats and flowing cloaks contrasting with the ruins they occupied.

"Damn you Cid!" Barque roared as he tore the Dincht Mark One from it's holster and begin to fire on the approaching men…

Obviously the two parts concerning Barque isn't happening at the same time as the usual gang. These little tid-bits are here to flesh out Barque a little more, letting you know just who he is, and how much influence he has on the world and the story.

I apologize for the lateness of the chapter and any spelling errors, as usual. It was going to be bigger, but…

Well, you'll see in the next chapter.