Author's Notes: The last chapter. There will be an epilogue by the end of the week. PLEASE read the comments on that one. Important stuff and all.
Pilot Wings: Chapter 14
No sooner had Nida caught a glimpse of the god before him than he went down on one knee. It was a fool that did not keep intense respect and honor in mind when before their creator. If you angered a god, your creator, they could easily unmake you.
Up. I will not have groveling. Act as if I were an equal, even though you are not. I am not amused by such weak displays.
Just as quickly as he'd knelt, Nida was on his feet, but it was not of his own accord. When Hyne said 'up' Nida's body had obeyed on its own. The feeling had been awkward, with muscles and joints almost seeming to hold a will of their own, separate of his own. He was pondering this when he heard a rumbling chuckle from the god.
I had forgotten the way my voice affected your kind. They only I ever speak to are my guardian children, and their wills are too strong to be swayed by such a simple command.
If that was simple, Nida didn't much want to see what a powerful command was. Still, he understood why his body had done as it had been told. This was the creator of his people, something the body of any creature must recognize on some sort of level, a memory of the origin. Nida could not help but begin to question whether humanity had ever actually fought and defeated this great being. Humans, it turned out, were obviously delusional, and the legends regarding the Zebalga had to be wrong.
Ah, this is not true. Humans did in fact face me. Most of the tale you know is wrong, but there is some truth. Sit, listen. You will not remember it when you waken, but someone should know better than those silly legends.
Nida obeyed quickly, not even pausing to wonder if Hyne was capable of reading his mind. As he settled, Nida looked more closely upon the visage of his god. Hyne was like Minerva had been, radiant and ageless, but there the similarities ended. She had presented herself as a gentle woman, though Nida had sensed, and even briefly seen, that she was a warrior by nature. The god now seated at Nida's side presented himself outwardly as a warrior, but Nida could sense a peacefulness in him. His skin was like that of any human, save in color, which was either white with blue tattooing making intricate patterns, or blue with white tattooing doing the same. His hair was the gray of ashes, and his eyes the pale, glowing blue Nida believed at this point must be the color of the Lifestream of his own world. This color too was the cape about Hyne's shoulders, draped carefully over the black and crimson armor the god wore.
Below all of this, though, Nida could sense that the god was clad in something else, as Minerva had been clad in armor beyond the simple dress. He felt it would likely be a simple robe in the same pale blue as Hyne's eyes.
In the beginning I made this world and resolved to create a place of peace and beauty. I built the air, seas, forests, plains, and I shaped the lands of my world, all with the smallest of tools of life. I made larger tools then, based in those first tools, and with them I further refined my world. I gave it life, that life might thrive, and return to me in the Lifestream, and that one day we would be able to move into our part of the great universal Lifestream. I wanted to bring something unique. So, in the end, all that was left after a time was to make a life that could feel, create, celebrate, and that were, above all else, peaceful. But I was so weary. I made my prototypes and foolishly left them to roam as I slept. I suppose you can guess what happened next...
This part of the story Nida knew very well from the legends that were circulated among normal people, and the Zebalga.
"The people multiplied and spread all over the world while you slept..."
Here Nida had to trail off. He knew what humanity said happened next, but he was growing to doubt the idea of what humanity thought being true.
They saw me when I awoke, and I saw them. There were many, and I was shocked, but proud to see my people. Then I learned, as I walked my world, that they warred constantly with each other, and in my name, or the name they had given me of Hyne. Such pain they created, such destruction. I lashed out at them with my smallest tools, and gave them illnesses. I set the world to rebelling against them that would destroy. So all, no, most, united to fight against me.
The tone in the god's voice (or the voice in Nida's head) was once more amused, though Nida did not understand why. Apparently, Nida assumed, the god too had been caught off guard at first by the idea of humans fighting immortals.
They fought well, died bravely. In the end, when their leadership fell to a wise man named Vasacat, and I felt that they would find peace, I relented. I claimed to be defeated, and said I would give them a gift of half of my power, were they to let me live. It was no loss to me, as I'd intended to give it to my creations anyway. I left with them my body, to fade and spread into the world, endowing all with magic, and my spirit came to my Lifestream. And again, they warred. The wise one was disgusted, as was the brave warrior leader of a tribe called the Zebalga.
Nida could not help but flinch at the word. "Bastard people! Let the fires of Ifrit claim them all!"
You hold ill feelings for your people. I do understand, but know they have long been misguided.
"They are not my people! The people are Garden are my people, not some savage fools!"
They are your people. Your blood is half that of the line of Zebalga, and once that was a proud thing. But, as I was saying, they warred. The Zebalga leader was killed by his own brother, who then called himself King. This man conquered all others in the land of Centra, and I mourned the death of his brother, and what it brought to the world, bloodshed evermore. The son of the first wise one went to the King and told him that man could not access the magic of Hyne as they had fought for if all they did was shed blood. The Zebalga said this was a lie, and demanded that the wise one's son, Vascaroon, show them how to get to my magic. Vascaroon chose to lie, saying I tricked the people, taking the whole of my power away. It was easier than saying that man could only have the magic if they had peace. And the Zebalga began to again search for me, an eternally pointless quest.
Upon the death of the wise one, I brought him to me along with the fallen Zebalga warrior leader and made them of my own flesh, creating the first of my guardians of the magic, Griever from the Zebalga, and of Vascaroon the wise and peaceful Eden.
Nida sat up straighter, unable to hold back his gasp. Everyone always wondered where Guardian Forces came from, and here he was, learning the origin of two of the four greats with no potential to relay it to those who would benefit most from such knowledge. If only he could remember.
But you cannot, at least for now. All guardians, you see, watch over the people of my world, and each person finds particular favor in one or two guardians, though rarely do they grow as close to the guardian as you have with Siren, who favors you so. Yet the ones you think of as the 'great four' are less common with their attentions, and those they tend to favor are tightly bound in the fate of the world. At this day Griever smiles upon the lion, and Gilgamesh, known at times as Odin,upon the wolf. Bahamut favors the coyote. This last one confused me for a time, as he was of the line of Vascaroon, and normally Eden looks over his own bloodline. Eden, I discovered recently, looks instead towards the last true remaining ounce of Vascaroon's might, the only other remaining member of the bloodline. You are destined for great things, eagle, and mighty are those who you will be able to call. Sadly, none will remember your role in them.
"Here, at least, you must be mistaken my lord. It sounds as if you mark me not only as Zebalga, but as Vascaroon's descendant. This cannot be right. I heard the prophecies as well as any other, guided by your own hand. I was the blood of Zebalga that was pivotal, and..."
That one was not the blood of Vascaroon that was vital, but he was important. No, you are of dual bloodlines and that is why you are important. But explaining would be pointless, you will remember it not at all. Still, I would hope you would attend more to your dreams. They will guide you if you allow them to. Siren, my daughter, it is time to take him to the world. Protect him from the Lifestream. It is time the eagle went back to the place of the sky.
Siren was at Hyne's elbow, again her appearance changed, but less here than in the Lifestream of Gaia. She was pretty much the same except for being clad in emerald and gold, and the tips of her hair had a faint green tint. Otherwise she still seemed more or less human in looks. With a smile she beckoned to Nida, crooning her preferred title for him, my hawk, in a sweet way as, for the last time he laid his hand in hers. With Siren he followed a blue path much like the flowing green of Gaia's, only to be surprised at times when people he was sure were Guardians would join them, speaking with Siren in words Nida could not understand. The one that shocked Nida the most was a woman who looked identical to Siren, garbed in billowing green, orange, and yellow, and whose every movement seemed to be part of a greater dance. Not long after the woman had left them, Nida realized that the woman had to have been Quetzalcoatl.
"Indeed," Siren said when Nida asked. "My twin in life. She was a famous dancer, and I played music for her. She was also known as a summoner. I was proud to have her as my knight."
"You were a sorceress?" Nida questioned, utterly disbelieving.
"Many of us were, or were otherwise affected by the lives of them. Some were knights, siblings, or slayers. We are not evil, sorceresses. Some are, yes, but not the ones firmly rooted in the truths of life. There is, at any given time, at least three sorceresses in the living world, peaceful and happy, as well as others with types of magic, like the one you call Ellone. These women, and indeed men, have found a peace inside of themselves, in most cases. This enables them to access their inner magic, but yes, there is a push from the spirit of another sorceress joining with them. But some of them go bad, just like any other person. The only difference is how many lives they change."
Nida nodded, but felt he did not truly understand. So he followed Siren on the blue path, and took one last chance to think of Cid.
I'm sorry, he told Cid with all his heart. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to go so suddenly. But I hope you know that I...
"... love you."
"Yeah, save that for later," someone grumbled.
The response, the voice, both Seifer's. It brought Nida's mind sharply into focus, forced his eyes open, and caused him to squirm a bit.
"Hold still dammit!" Seifer barked, tightening his grip on Nida, the pilot only just noticing that he was being carried by the Galbadian Headmaster. "Couldn't have picked a better fucking place, could you? Maybe a resort town or something? Why the middle of mother fucking Centra?"
That didn't make sense to Nida at all. Why would he be in Centra? Why would Seifer be there too? Had he not just been in Odine's lab? How was he in the Centra ruins then? Fuck, he must have been hit pretty badly by a Tonberry while on a mission or something, lost some memory to go with it. Or maybe he was just temporarily disoriented. Either way, this sucked.
"Will you just put me down?" Nida hissed at the blond. "I can walk on my own you know." Not that he was sure he could, he just didn't like Seifer's complaining.
"Nope. Ice Prince said I wasn't to let you out of my sight. And, even if it would be easier to put you down, by the way lose some weight, I figure this is the best way to look after you."
"By carrying me around like your bride?"
"Yep." Seifer grinned, and it was infuriating.
There was no conceivable information, at least at this point, that could hint as to why Squall would order such a thing from Seifer. What was more shocking was the fact that Seifer was actually listening to something Squall ordered. These days Seifer just tended to wave his title in Squall's face to say he didn't have to listen, only to give in because the fact that was was still an active SeeD meant that, yes, he really did have to listen. Still, Seifer wasn't known for obeying anyone's orders.
"Since when do you listen to Squall?"
"Since his fucking fly boy, and in case you don't get it, that is you, missing for two whole months suddenly and finally has his Hyne-damned tracker go off and needs a pick up. And, surprise surprise, it's not in Esthar or the space station, or any of those places you like a lot, or even in Winhill. No, he pops up in Centra, just when I'm visiting with Matron. I swear the tight ass worries you're going to disappear again any moment, like you did in Odine's lab. So here I am, following orders to the best of my ability, which means I'm going to hold on with you, so if you go poof, Squall can't yell at me because I'll go poof too."
Two months? That wasn't possible.
"Two months? I've been gone for two months?"
"Why? How long did you think you were gone?"
A year, Nida almost felt like saying to be sarcastic, but something felt weird about that amount of time, and Seifer really did look worried.
"Few seconds? Maybe a bit longer? I don't know. One second I was with Odine, the machine is flipping out and I'm in pain, the next I'm waking up to your ugly mug."
This didn't seem to comfort Seifer, or even relax him enough to have him make a come back.
"Seems like that machine fucked you up worse that we thought. Squall wants it destroyed. After you disappeared he was the bright one to figure it had to do with your popping out. Mini-Compression or something, so we started to quietly check what sort of places you might be tied enough to so that you'd reappear there. We figured you'd be in Esthar, Winhill, Balamb, or just somewhere with lots of wind and birds. But you weren't. Here you are, in the least likely place possible."
"My family lived here," Nida said, much to his own shock as it was to Seifer's.
"Your records has Winhill..."
"No, my parents. Before the war, I lived here. There was a village here, in the center of fields. I lived with my mother and father. Elena, Samuel. Sheya. That was our last name. All I remembered when the orphanage was my name. I was only five. And the Nomura widow in Winhill took me in."
Seifer had stopped in his tracks, even though Nida would see that the flier was only ten feet away. It was confusing until he looked up at Seifer and saw the sheer shock on his face. Then Nida realized what had just happened, why Seifer was shocked to a stand still, he'd told the man about his childhood, something he should not remember because of how young he should have been, not to mention his use of GFs for the better part of his life. There was no way he should remember what he just had.
"I suppose it must have been rattled lose by Odine's fuck up," was all Nida could think to say. Still, his mind was dredging up other things Nida was sure it wasn't possible for him to be remembering.
"Great, looks like not only Doc K will have to check you out, but Ifrit-Breath too."
Nida couldn't help but chuckle at Seifer's name for the GF specialist that had learned much with the help of Garden during the last war. And, knowing there was little more he could do, Nida let Seifer carry him to the flier, withdrawing into his mind to seek out the gentle and mournful mental touch of his Guardian Force.
-------
Seifer, Nida discovered shortly after the flier had set down outside of Balamb Garden, had not exaggerated when he'd implied that a lot of people had been worried, despite the best efforts to keep his disappearance under wraps. It wasn't easy to explain away the fact that a high end SeeD and instructor was missing, though. By the time the Galbadian Headmaster had carried Nida most of the way to the door (having managed to grab the pilot just after the flier set down), a crowd had formed behind the assembled command-level SeeDs. Everyone was there, Squall the High SeeD Commander (and how he hated the title), Quistis and Zell as Headmaster and SeeD Commander of Balamb, Selphie and Irvine from their jobs controlling Traia Garden, and even Fujin, Seifer's SeeD Commander at Galbadia. Apparently the top ranking Garden officials had all heard of Nida's return, and were now awaiting answers. Even the crowd behind them seemed to realize that everyone was waiting for Nida.
Luckily for Nida, as private as he liked to keep his life, the presence of all of these top level SeeDs for him would probably create rumors that Nida had been away on an important mission. Still, that didn't save him from the embarrassment of Seifer's carrying him. Thing was that Nida couldn't even demand to be let down, Seifer would have no reason as a Headmaster to listen to Balamb's Head Instructor, or the Senior Ranking Seed outside of the administration of the Gardens. There was, really, only one way to get out of Seifer's arms before they really reached the crowd, only one way to save face, and Nida was willing to risk it, even if it might result in disciplinary action, and maybe a nice bruise.
"Hey Seifer," Nida said, crooking his finger to imply he wanted to whisper something. Seifer bent his head closer to Nida, giving the pilot the chance to loop an arm around his neck. The other hand came to rest on the wrist of Seifer's left hand, which supported Nida's lower body. This one of Nida's hands found where nerves should be and squeezed, hard, causing Seifer's hand to jerk back. With his hand around Seifer's neck, Nida had just enough support to swing his body down without achieving much damage to himself.
Of course, now there was an angered Seifer to deal with, who was no doubt not pleased with Nida's ploy. The Headmaster lunched at Nida, who dodged nimbly out of way without breaking his stride towards Squall and the others assembled. He then ducked a stray fist as Seifer came at him again, carefully slipping a foot out at just the right place that Seifer was tripped, as if stumbling over a root. Nida pretended not to notice the falling Headmaster, just focusing on making his way to the congregation. As he drew closer he could hear the quiet cheers from the assembled students, low level SeeDs, and Selphie and Zell. There was a chuckle too from Irvine, but the rest there gave Nida only a disapproving silence.
Directly in front of the main trio of the two female headmasters and Squall, Nida paused to pull out one more risky move: saluting to Squall.
"Senior SeeD, Rank A, Nida Nomura reporting in. You'll have to forgive Headmaster Almasy, sir. He admitted to me that he wasn't feeling particularly well today, something about me being too heavy. Sadly he would not allow me to help him in any way."
Now that Nida was focused in on Squall's face he could see that the man was actually relatively amused by what had taken place. His silence, though, read 'there is a time and a place for everything'.
"I see. I will speak to him later about flying in such a state. For now I want you to report to Doctor Kadowaki for your post mission examination. I will send someone to fetch you a clean uniform."
At this Nida could not help but look down at himself. His uniform was indeed in a pitiful state, dirty and damaged in ways that he could not remember taking place. In his mind he'd only been gone a few hours. How, then, were there tears on the arms and spots of dirt and dust everywhere? He looked more as if he was coming back from months of hard labor, not just having appeared in Centra. Most confusing was the fact that some things looked like someone had tried to repair them.
"If I might hazard a suggestion, sir."
He waited three breaths before Quistis sighed and spoke up.
"Yes?"
"I am quite tired, and the doctor always tends to take so long. I would appreciate food for now, and for my debriefing to be delayed until such time as Doctor Kadowaki decides that I am fit enough to stand before the Inter-Garden Counsel." Nida had faith that the others would understand that this meant that he needed some time before he faced their inquisition.
"Of course," Squall agreed, "The Counsel has its own matters to deal with anyway. We will send for you when we are done with our discussions, and when Doctor Kadowaki has reported that you are in good shape."
Great, Nida thought. 'Own matters' probably meant they would be interrogating Seifer about what he had learned so far about Nida.
"Students are dismissed back to their duties," Squall said, turning on the people assembled behind him. "Fujin, check the records for the room number and code for Instructor Nomura and see to it that you bring him a fresh uniform to change into. Zell, you are to bring food to the infirmary. The ladies working will decide, not you. No hot dogs. Irvine, you are to escort Nomura to the infirmary and inform Kadowaki that she is to report when he has been examined and fed. Quistis, Seifer, Selphie..."
The blond gunblader had just gotten to Squall's side, his eyes locked on Nida with the most vicious glare he could muster, which was actually quite impressive.
"Please come with me. There are matters we agreed to attend to with all of your presence here today, and they must be dealt with, whether your SeeD Commanders are present or not."
And like that, everyone was leaving, even a good part of the 'Orphanage Gang'. Squall turned for a moment to direct a serious sort of silence at Nida, a 'do not think I'll forget either' sort of silence. Then the only people left outside were Irvine and Nida. With the crowd dispersed Nida sighed in relief, his attempt to look whole and healthy having drained him more than he had let on. In fact...
"Irvine," he gasped out, just before his legs buckled.
It was just enough warning for the gunner, and Nida found himself held in Irvine's arms, just barely standing on his own two feet, and even more barely under his own power. For a few moments he stood there with Irvine's arms around him, trying to catch his breath and call up enough energy to make it to the infirmary.
"Are you okay?"
"Isn't that up to Kadowaki to decide?"
When Nida awoke later his mind latched on to two odd facts: it was darker than he remembered it being upon entering the infirmary; and he was finding himself relieved to wake in a place he remembered. The latter thought was odd enough, and baseless enough, that Nida merely discarded it, possibly as the remains of some dream. The former found Nida wondering just how long he had been out.
"Don't worry," came Kadowaki's voice from his elbow, "Only ten hours. Long enough to rule out most major injuries and illnesses we can pick up from physical examination, blood tests, and G-Scanners. Even good old fashion monitoring is only turning up some fatigue."
Doctor K smiled as Nida focused in on the sight of her writing something on her clip board. "Just seems that your body was tired, something we noticed in a lot of people after the Time Compression of the Sorceress War. Probably just an expected side effect of that idiot Odine. You'll be fine in a few days. I could say otherwise to Squall though, if you would like some time. I expect he's not going to be fun to see today."
"Sadly, I don't think he's going to fall for that."
Irvine was peering at the two from the door, an apologetic smile on his face as he approached the bedside. "He told me to wake Nomura if he wasn't already awake, and take him to the conference room. Said not much reason to keep us up too late. Sooner we start, sooner Nida can get back to bed rest."
"Now I don't very much think Squall should tell me when to dismiss my own patients. Plus it is past seven o'clock. And he hasn't eaten. This is foolish."
"But if I know Squall," Nida said, shifting so he was sitting up in the bed, "There will be food waiting for me, and no doctor will get between him and the debrief."
The gunner nodded in agreement. "Squall just had the cafeteria send what they could spare to the conference room, to feed everyone, not just Nida."
"So someone get me my uniform. It doesn't pay to leave the lion waiting."
Irvine found the thing, pressed to the shock of both Nida and Irvine, hanging on the back of the door of Kadowaki's office. Nida hauled it on while Irvine quickly updated him on vital gossip between the Gardens for the last two months. Unsurprisingly a lot of it involved the missing Instructor and pilot, who people said had left on his normal three day vacation, and never returned. Some of the rumors, like him being eaten by a herd of wild chocobos, were ridiculous. Others were almost acceptable, if outrageous, like Nida taking on a stampede of Ochus all on his own, but getting lost in the forests afterwards, delirious with poison. Some involved Seifer having killed him for a variety of reasons (and only a few involved accidents). Irvine's personal favorite had Nida assigned to infiltrating a rebel organization that Squall had just taken out a week prior to Nida's return. Nida had every intention of making use of this rumor, if Squall allowed it and didn't have something better.
Irvine and Nida both agreed, though, on which rumor they disliked most. One had Nida abandoning Garden to join the still missing leader of the Zebalgas, Boyce.
"I've been having nightmares about him," Irvine reluctantly admitted, though Nida couldn't imagine why Irvine would tell Nida of all people.
Fact of the matter was that Nida was sure that he'd had those nightmares too, but he couldn't remember when, or where. He remembered a terror, and reliving horrible moments when Boyce had tried to tempt him.
The mentioning of Boyce put both Irvine and Nida into a poor mood, and made their trip to the sub-basement that had been renovated to make conference rooms and training areas. The pair arrived in the main conference room just in time to see Seifer snatching up the last hot dog on the table and taunting Zell with it. Fujin shouted something about her superior needed to behave, and Quistis merely rolled her eyes at Zell's continued rising to all of Seifer's taunts. The group was so caught up in the fight that it took Selphie's bouncy restlessness making her eyes eventually wander to the door before anyone noticed Irvine and Nida. Well, no, that wasn't exactly true. Nida was sure he caught Squall's eyes, but the man said nothing. So it was up to Selphie.
"Irvy!" she shouted, bouncing over to her cowboy and throwing herself into his arms. His hat was instantly snatched up and placed on her head, and then she was breezing past him, leaving a hurt look on Irvine's face, to give Nida a hug.
"About time you're back. We were worried SICK! Even Seifer was worried, though he won't say it! Checked all of Esthar on his own! And you know how he hates it there!"
Nida's eyes moved for a second from the hyper brunette to the blond in question, who was pointedly not looking for him. With this tidbit Nida would be able to avoid the pounding he had rightfully earned for making Seifer look like a fool.
"NIDA!" Fujin declared in her own way. It was both a greeting and a reproach for him causing people concern.
"Selphie is right, you know," Quistis said, smiling from her seat beside Squall, who seemed busy setting papers in order in front of him.
"Mu mphed fu mu," Zell choked out around the hot dog he'd stolen back from Seifer.
The pilot smiled and shook Selphie off of him. "Do you guys mind if I grab a plate of food for while you're putting me through the wringer?"
This got the group to settle down a bit, and Nida started to fill his plate and take his normal seat three places to the right of Squall's position at the head of the table. For the first minute he focused solely on the glasses of water and milk in front of him as well as the pieces of chicken. After he got the first piece down he loaded up on vegetables and other things that could be managed in the space between sentences. And then, he began.
Everyone listened attentively as he traced his day from the time Squall had called him (carefully keeping out the fact that Kiros had been present, but he caught a little bit of a twinkle in Squall's eyes, residual amusement), to the point where he'd gone through all of Odine's documentations, theories, calculations and estimations. He admitted readily that he had not expected the machine to even work, but sure enough he found himself describing the horrible pain he had been in before he woke up to Seifer carrying him across the barren landscape of Centra.
"But, there was something weird," Nida admitted after he told of Centra. "Seifer was talking about searching, and I didn't understand. I only remembered being in Odine's lab, and then in Centra. Yet when he asked me how long he thought I'd been gone, I wanted to say a year. The urge unnerved me, so I said nothing about it."
The others took this in, nodding slightly, or hmming as they thought about this piece of information.
"What is more, when Squall pointed out that my uniform was in a horrible state, I was confused. The uniform I wore to see Odine had been perfectly cleaned. It was the dress uniform I stored in my apartment there for formal occasions in Esthar. It had one of my sets of dress pilot wings on them. But when I examined the clothes before changing into the silly little robe thing the doctor wanted me in, I noticed not only tears, but both hasty and careful repairs. And my pilot wings were missing."
Another mouthful of mashed potatoes and a sip of milk before Nida launched himself into the biggest reveal, which he was sure Seifer had already blown for him.
"One more thing. When Seifer was complaining about where I'd wound up, saying there was no reason for me to be in Centra, I pointed out my parents had lived there."
This halted the whole group except for Seifer. Apparently he hadn't parted with that fact. Well, Nida could deal with that. Squall and Quistis would at least notice what this meant.
"You grew up in Winhill, silly," Selphie said. "You visit your foster mother's grave every year."
Nida nodded. "Yes, that is true. But I was raised until the age of five in a village on the Centra continent. A small one. I suddenly remembered that. I knew my parent's names, even my last name..."
"What is it?" Irvine could not help but cut in with.
"Sheya. I'm positive of it. But that wasn't all I remembered. I remembered my parents telling me stories, about Hyne and Zebalga and Vascaroon. It was a Zebalga village I grew up in. It was destroyed during the war against Adel. I started to remember so many things that my young age and Guardian Force use should have wiped my mind of. But it's all there. I don't understand it."
This was pondered for a few minutes before Squall broke the silence, as unexpected as that always was.
"This could potentially be a side-effect of the fact that you were the only one caught up in the full affects of what we can only assume was a miniature time-compression bubble. But, to be sure, we shall have to send you to a psychologist..."
"Head fuck," Seifer mumbled.
"Send you to a psychologist and the GF specialist. This might be something to do with the fact that you were not junctioned to Siren during the compression, maybe unlocking what the Guardians naturally take from us. I also want Kadowaki to do a more thorough examination of you, as well as a brain specialist. If this unlocking can be repeated, it might be something to consider. But I don't want to risk anyone."
"Glad to be a guinea pig!" Nida added to the tail end of Squall's speech. Or speech for Squall.
Squall rolled his eyes.
"Nida, this is very serious. Either there is something really wrong with you, or really right," Quistis said, sounding annoyed with his smart comment.
"Can I please remind you of the intense pain? My two month disappearance..."
"But it was longer than that, wasn't it?" Irvine cut in, and everyone went silent.
It was the kind of silence that didn't even mean anything Squall silence. And everyone was in on it except for Nida. He looked hard at everyone around the table before turning his eyes in a silent plea towards Irvine. They had grown close to each other during the last war, for understandable reasons.
"Dammit, are we seriously not going to tell him?"
"Tell me what?"
"Ellone tried to reach out to you the day after you went missing," Squall said, his voice utterly flat, even for him.
"And?"
"She said she found you," Irvine provided when no one else would speak. "Your dream was horrible she said, with Garden in utter ruin. She found you sitting in the entrance hall on a beat up bench. When she talked to you, you were glad to see her, and she told you we were looking for you. You told her you'd been gone several months."
Irvine paused to let this sink in, which it didn't really do for Nida. He didn't remember this at all.
"And before you ask, she was sure she was in contact with your mind. She could feel Siren on the edges of your mind, there was anxiety, and the words 'Zebalga', 'Traitor' and 'Boyce' were written all over in graffiti. Who else would have dreams like that, all things considered? And she was there more than once, though each time after the first you apparently tried to ignore her. She said the first time, when you learned how long it had been, you shouted at her, accused her of being a nightmare, and got so worked up that you probably woke up wherever you were, or just became utterly unreachable."
"We didn't know what to do with that information," Seifer admitted in annoyance. "Either you had disappeared, awakened somewhere, turned off your tracker, and proceeded to go mad, or you were telling the truth. What were we, are we, supposed to believe?"
Nida frowned down at the food before him for a few moments, and finally just pushed it away.
"I suppose that is just one more question I do not have the answer to. Now, if you will excuse me, I am tired. Very tired."
Without waiting for permission, Nida rose and left the conference room. His mind was racing in the most horrible ways. He couldn't figure out why any of this was happening, much less what any of it meant. His mind focused in on the apparent contact between himself and Ellone, that he could in no way remember. And his mind focused in on the story his father used to tell him when he was just a little child.
Once upon a time there was a person named Hyne. Hyne was the ruler of the world. He became lazy and decided to make a tool to make his life easier. Hyne made a neat tool. His tool could make more tools by itself. Soon there were a lot of tools in the world. These tools were actually people...
The beginning of the Legend of Vascaroon, as told by the Zebalga. Nida wanted to break down and cry. He held himself together, though, until the elevator carried him back to the first floor, until he managed to drag himself through the corridors of the residential wing to where the private SeeD rooms were, and until the door was shut behind him and he collapsed, fully dressed, into bed.
He didn't want to deal with it right now. He didn't even want to think about any of it.
As Nida sat up to strip off his uniform a pale blue glow caught his eye. On the breast of his dress uniform in the corner was Nida's other set of dress pilot wings, the pale blue glow of the adamantine.
For some reason the sight of the wings, softly glowing in the corner, brought tears to Nida's eyes at last.