DISCLAIMER : FINAL FANTASY SERIES BELONGS TO SQUARE-ENIX
RULE IN READING THIS: DROP YOUR LOGIC AT HOME; enter the world without questions coz THERE WOULD BE SOO MUCH (too much) odds here; just prepare!^^ coz I'm just too lazy too fix it ; no details, lack of rationale.
Chapter III : "Present Day"
[present day]
"No. I'm not trying to remember it, so just drop the question, Seifer.", Squall replied.
See? Nothing important nor interesting during those years….
Now, that they were almost reaching Dollet territory, Squall deeply thinking again about what bugged his mind since he woke up at that forest near Deling. If Galbadian found out, they'd be dead. Where are they? they have everything best at pursuing people. The finest military nation for God sake! Surely, it's a piece of cake. And there's no sign of them. It made Squall felt more eerie. Too odd. They just won't let me off that easily. Not they fool enough. Not we far enough. In fact they should get close to us, even caught us when we were at the forest. Or bombed it so they could find us easier. Blocked the train access… sent of the military vessels… aircraft…anything! It's too damn odd! Too easy for us. Something is not right. He made a quick glance at Seifer. What the hell did you do, Seifer? And he started to think he'd left him soon after he reached anything relatively called safety. He found that the man he was looking at was busy undoing the bandage under his coat which covered his arm. Doing it meant he must grip the train only on his right arm, and doing that on the top of fast running train was indeed a crazy thing and need a good skill. There, it revealed a severely wounded and bruised arm which oozing and bleeding.
"Here.", he said to Squall nonchalantly.
"I said my wounds are fine."
"Not your wounds, you idiot. Your face. Do something about it. It's almost dollet."
…body fluids… could be… infectious…
Srek! Squall grabbed it hesitantly. "Stop fooling around, Seifer. I don't need this. I'll get on my own way." He looked at it with disgust.
"Yeah, sure.", he mocked him full of sarcasm.
Kreekk… clash. CLANK! What the-?
The train stopped suddenly. Exactly at Galbadian territory border... damn… . And like Squall thought, they were blocked. Now people at the train had already started shouting in panic.
Why now? Why they make us flee this far?
Adrenaline started to pumped. And to their horror, everything went so fast. Is it because of humanity? Forcivilians and their country safety? …shit, whatever! Squall could see with his eyes, those Galbadian soldiers are marching their way. Infantries, and with those vessels and tanks, and planes. Light. And he was blinded by a second. He could see a flash of smirking Seifer. A smirk for Godsake.
"like what we expected, Squall. Ready?"
Without second thought, Squall jumped off the train. And as he reached the ground he cast shell on himself and tried to run ignoring the pain. Luckily, the adrenaline had covered it for him.
BOOMB! The train was shattered by the explosion behind him. Seifer?
And he felt his body moved faster. Haste. There he saw the blond man, still tried to cast another haste spell for him.
"I'm not too good in white magic!", Seifer shouted while they were desperately running.
The bombs started to fell down. They killed the soldiers as they proceeded. Being in critical period made Squall could release his renzokuken again and again. But of course, even Galbadian soldier meant a lot of problems when they were in great numbers.
Summon GF? Damn! Not fast enough.
Using Diablo power at my current condition will only kill myself…. Oh, damn! Whatever!
"darkside!"
They died but as expected, Squall started to bleed. Now he had coughed a bloody one too. Seifer saw this then he was also seeing another Galbadians whom would shortly arrived. He was still in locked position though, by 3 Galbadian soldiers around him. Better finished this off before that Leonheart waltz in ... Helped by Leonheart is really the last thing I want… One of them almost shot his leg and the others succeeded cast blizzaga on him as he evaded the bullets, made him fell down to the ground. He was outnumbered and he realized it. ouch! Shit! Guess I really need a hand here! He expected to have Squall helped him since it was a typically Squall he knew. He glanced at his direction just to see Squall was heavily beaten and beaten by his opponent.
Well,, isn't thaaat…. pathetic? Seeing this, Seifer quickly cast his only flare and killed the men around him with his gunblade. Ridiculous.
Now, it was only one man stand before him. And that's my only precious flare I saved for the big one…He saw Squall was hit by the opponent sword and then shot in his arm. Hey…hey…What's that puberty boy doing? It's just a slow attack! How couldn't he evade it?oww…is this really true what I'm seeing? isn't it great?
He pulled the trigger, and the man lied down to death.
Just by that, he saw Squall who was looked quite delirium. He too had already finished the enemies around him that he stood still for a second, clutching his head in pain and swiped his bleeding nose, hands lowering his gunblade. He didn't realize that by that time, a quite higher rank soldier was about to shoot his head from the back.
"HOW MANY TIME DO I HAVE TO SAVE YOUR ASS, Leonheart! !", Seifer moved and pushed away Squall;s body to the side.
He then killed the poor soldier in an instant. That left only both of them there for a short time. But the reinforcement just about to come and both of them could see that.
"You really don't need to interfere."
"So save your own ass, Squally…. -… no good. They would have called reinforcement by now…. - you go, Squall. I'll do my best."
By that time, they were surrounded again.
"WHAT?", Squall now was killing 2 men and currently fighting the rest (which keep coming) but unluckily he beaten many times and his agility decreasing so that Seifer took over the fight and killed the opponents before they did more damage to the already exhausted Squall. Even his lionheart lost from his hands and threw away from him.
"Shit! Do I have to repeat it again? Run! Now! if you make it to Dollet. Look for the Pentarium. Black and white. I'll catch up with you later.", he said after finished 4 men and was trying to concentrate to did certain skills.
Shit! Squall grabbed his gunblade back from the ground.
"Timber. Grey kashkabald." , he killed more people. "no mercy." And they were saved for that time. Seifer already finished the ones who surrounded them.
"cut this off, Seifer!"
"you see that ! you can't keep fighting like that. Not with your current condition. DAMN ! It's not about your pride and all, leonheart!"
Now Seifer was already concentrating in summoning his guardian force.
"Bahamut!"
Bahamut? How can he have it?
And it appeared and made the night bright with its flare and wiped dead those Galbadian armies and planes in a second. And no more bombs to fall. Those were dead by a second and the vessels crashed down as consequence. Well, Seifer had never been a fair fighter, and humanity had never been his concern.
Squall witnessed them all and thought, All die in an instant, he must have used his GF to KILL on purpose, not just hurt them…
Too many lives wasted this night… innocent lives… it's not even necessary!
"quick! This should make enough chance for you to flee. I'll create more distracters with this and buy more times."
"hell, no!"
"OH, GOD! Should I repeat it again?"
But suddenly the already bright night due to flares became darker and darker. They gazed each other in silent.
"not this one…damn!", Squall shouted.
A creepy feeling was built and Seifer could sense it, but without a chance to think, he heard a roar- bahamut's roar..
Squall noticed that the area was also destroyed. The poor Galbadian tanks with their soldiers on them also greatly damaged.
…It's not common summoning… what's the hell they thinking? It's not even legal! The GF Convention for God sake! We should never use it to this extent!
Oh yes, and they're not garden of course…. it's not like they would bind to the rules…AND yeah, GF outside the garden… I'm such a great commander… EX-commander..
The fact that GF was owned and used by other than Garden and SEED made Squall worried. It could be a real hell for the world and yeah, for innocent civilians. And that whoever Galbadian using it now had proved Squall enough about his worries; the GF not fighting in their realm.
"What's the hell is that? Shouldn't a GF supposed only to attack it's opponent not anything beside it?", Seifer shouted demanding for explanation. "what kind of powerful GF is that?"
And he felt sudden force to his brain and he felt extremely dizzy and painful. His ears were ringing and there he felt it. his almighty GF was dying and forced back to retreat. But somehow, bahamut had already made the unknown opponents back off too.
"wh-what WAS that thing?"
"Doom train. It appeared again, and we'll be doom. I'm too weak to called Alexander now." .
Squall bled more from his nose.
"doom train? The legendary doom train?"
Yes, doom train, and how it was there just asked Selphie, Squall thought. The fact it was there made he felt more miserable. Anger had built in.
"…weak against holy like Alexander."
"Is it this powerful?"
"No, it's not."
"No? but even environment was inflicted! Aren't a GF- an ordinary GF is not supposed to be able doing that? it's too damn…. -Realistic!" Seifer really wanted to smack Squall's arrogance.
"Grand summoning. ..you should have known it, Almasy. Let's go! "
"Oh, shut up already ! you don't have to explain to me like I was a fool. Give me, and you go. We can't keep running like this."
"What? Not Alexander… "
"OH yes, holy shit- it is, Squall! Now! I don't care if you love that GF so much nor you're too unconfident without that to support you. in fact, we need it. and you can't-"
"How could you possibly think I'll give it to you? Damn Seifer! I'm not trusting you yet. And you're not a Seed. (you're not even supposed to hold on bahamut right now). Even if I had-"
"Fine, I'm not a SEED and your almighty gardens even don't exist anymore, ex- commander!" Saving Squall Leonheart with his big head like usually sure was the craziest thing he'd do, and Seifer started to change his mind and ignored his purpose why he was there in the first place. What's on his mind now was just simple instinct : going out from the place, alive.
"I want that damn GF now you hear me? I don't mind to blow your head to get it coz I'm NOT going to die here!". .Seifer then halted his steps. "listen, stop this useless talks. You have no choice but trust me.", his determined eyes met Squall's. No further response from Squall. He didn't like the idea nor he trusted Seifer. And he's not going to leave Seifer in hell situation just to save his own life.
"OH GOD! What's happened to that so famous commander? YOU're just chicken out and can't even make a simple decision! See? You're not worth to be what you were regarded- and look at you now, it more suits you!"
Squall just remained stoic.
"Fine. Take this." , Seifer said seriously.
Squall felt another presence in his head. He felt this before; Bahamut.
"What are you intending to do, Seifer? A dying bahamut-", he halted as he saw the galabadian reinforcements were marching their way. He felt it again, doom train. "-whatever." , he had made his choice.
"They're not calling them again! Shit! Look at that !holy shit! They won't risk their own entire army!"
"Oh, yes they will, Seifer. I thought you are more… experienced in it…" Squall said calmly and tapped Seifer's shoulder and left him.
Alexander, serve your new master.
"you are. No other man worth. I won't take low lives as my master. Not only power, but wisdom and justice. I'd rather put them in eternal holy land otherwise", Alexander heavy clear voice replied in his mind.
By means holy land referred to death. But Squall hesitated and pushed it out of his mind. As expected, Seifer shouted in pain. He held his head.
"meet- Allen Brown. Say my name. Timber."
Squall could see that Seifer's consciousness was decreasing. Shit! And they're coming! Squall ran off as he could without even turning back.. And Seifer fell down to his knees with pain and then realized but didn't bother. He kept running away. He knew that Seifer would stand up again very soon. He's worth enough. Yet, he felt uncomfortable. In fact, he never left his men even just once. And yes, he used to be the last person to save all. I'm leaving Seifer… hell… what the hell am I doing? Not like Seifer was his man, but abandoning him just felt wrong. ...better prove yourself as good as your mouth, Seifer. I leave this to you. As he run he cursed again and again, how could I forget to tell him? It must be the grand summoning. And how could I expect him to know Goddamit, even a SeeD wouldn't know! It's totally a secret and he's just SeeD cadet! …unless he found the information alone. He's a kind of curious person who always broke the rule anyway, he could've read it. He's a natural born GF u-
-no…. he barely knew the word just now! damn! i'm killing Seifer Almasy just now…shit!
He always knew that somehow he'd ended up killing his rival but certainly not in this way.
Almost Timber, and he knew he could die anytime. Hence, there he saw it: White blinding light in the sky.
Alexander.
God, He made it.
Then he felt sudden burden build up. Squall let out a bitter laugh to himself,
(what am I? I've just given a psycho who thirsts of power a horrible technique to satisfy his needs)
-O.O-
OOOO
-O.O-
Squall was breathing heavily while trying to keep running as fast as he could. His eyes had already been blurrier.
Timber.
Now that he's been running for only God knows how long, what on his mind was the pain was getting intense, his mind was cloudy, and his heart raced madly. The forest was deep and too much creatures lured in and Squall knew exactly that he couldn't just step freely into the city from the main gate without making ruckuses. The Galbadian soldiers must be protected the main entrance since Timber was now officially a Galbadian District. And Timber's native soldier would be the same problem as that. And the forest, the forest itself might be full of grenades and traps from the Timber Resistance Movement. Moreover, with his current condition, swimming was much easier than dealing with those unnecessary enemies. He jumped into the Obel Lake and swam just by instinct. It was painful, but instinct to live won everything.
Finally, the camp of Timber Resistance Movement – the separatism Rebel that's what Galbadia called them- was in sight. Now that Timber had been officially become Galbadia Republic district, the people of northern part of Timber still fighting for Timber independence and built their base camp there, near the Obel Lake, and surrounded by forest. Timber itself now was nothing the same like when Squall first came during his first mission when its people still fight for their independence from president Vinzer Deling. Now it had been in a very poor condition. G-soldiers everywhere, just like famine and ruins. The condition was just like any other conflict area, still bloody by war atmosphere. Citizens lived in fear and Galbadia had not restored anything nor built anything yet (despite their small military base). A slight doubt crossed his mind. He was helping them to gain their independence twice and was ironically the same person who protected Galbadia Nation – the very existence of Republic of Galbadia- when the country was in brief period of extreme chaotic and political instability. Thus the almighty Galbadia stood again and grabbed Timber independence again. Some of Timbers even thought Squall was the big player behind the scene. Yeah, like the rest of the world who regarded him as such a man who always thirsts of power. He's lucky if they didn't just shoot him in sight.
Whatever….
Squall stood up.
*cough*
Clank! The lionhart dropped. He then squatted to reach it.
His eyes and ear reacted fast. What the-?
"Look who we got here. A fool too brave idiot! You'll regret this, Galbadian scum!"
The man with big revolver spat on him in pure hatred. The gun was directed right exactly on Squall's carotid.
He was surrounded like he's expected. More weapons toward him.
Brief silence. An anxious one. And then he was shot like crazy, hit, and slapped.
He's managed to punch one man and grabbed his weapon- unfortunately just a knife. He used the knife to stab on the man who's currently holding his arm tightly and grabbed his lionhart which lied near the man's foot.
He was about to pulled the trigger when suddenly a man- apparently their leader- grabbed his hairs and pulled it harshly. He examined Squall's face.
"Brown… Allen Brown.", Squall said, his eyes piercing back the one who's currently staring at him, unfraid and still arrogant like usually. "Seifer."
The man touched his scar. Then he threw away his body. Squall bumped into the earth hard.
Now his head too was bleeding.
"Grey Kashkabald."
He was about to be shot again. Several men reacted spontaneously.
"STOP! you heard him, right?"
"but!"
"He's one of us.. Never shot in sight, that's what I always thought to you all…dig the information first. Now what are you staring at? dismiss ! I'm handling him just in case."
"So, I assume that you're Allen Brown."
"My true identity, yes. The one that only Seifer would know."
The timber resistance? Never thought Seifer would end up here…
"Why do you come here?"
God, I don't have any idea. "Seifer-"
"-he's none of us anymore. And you better get off your feet from here as soon as you've recovered."
"…"
"Come. You could heal yourself and rest here tonight and leave once the morning arises."
"Dollet. What's Seifer doing in that place?"
"I told you that that asshole is none of us anymore. I don't care what's the hell he did or doing out there."
"You don't have any reason to help me then."
"Couldn't just let you die, Commander, but be sure to set off soon before you give us any problems."
"…"
"Follow me to my tent. Don't let other sees you... HEY! What did you do just now?"
2 curagas. Squall was surprised to get the stock from the man who obviously couldn't even use para magic."… nothing." He then cast them on himself.
Then Squall followed the man with a better condition.
"I'm telling you…. tomorrow is the perfect moment.", Squall said.
"Eh?"
"Liberation of Timber." The man's eye widen. "but none of my business anyway.", Squall finished the talk.
-O.O-
-O.O-