Yay, updates XD
blauer Schmetterling: Thank you very much :) I really appreciate the thoughts. It's so crazy that a dead language is your second XD And I don't know about cooler, but Spanish is definitively easier than French (in my opinion, anyway XD). I've sung in German, Italian, and French, and French almost killed me haha. And I'm glad you think this fic is good! Warm fuzzies :3
Axel'sChakrams8: I'm so glad you liked it! :D This one is a bit longer to make up for the last one being short haha. And I totally appreciate the enthusiasm :D Love getting your reviews ;) I'm afraid poor Cloud is having a mental break .-. Of course, that seems to be the norm for the poor kid lol. And you have an excellent point about readers. I appreciate the encouragement and your thoughts :) Hope you enjoy!
And my dear readers, I give you, a Lea POV! :D Enjoy!
He couldn't help the grin that lit his face when the fire caught. Just like that and the field was up in flames. Oh, it wasn't any brand of happiness that caused his smile. It was more like a reflex, something bred so deep into his Somebody that it had carried over to his Nobody. He must have really liked fire.
"Can we go now?" Isa asked from behind. He could detect a trace of discomfort in his friend's voice. "Before we're incinerated?"
"After we're sure it won't go out," Lea responded, rising to his feet. He took several steps back away from the flames and brushed off his trousers. "Squall won't be happy if we don't attract a good number of the army."
"He won't be happy if a sixth of his forces burn to death," Isa pointed out. Really, the other man could be such a downer at times. "He kind of needs us. Kingdoms don't collapse all by themselves, you know."
Isa had been a good friend to him. Even after Lea had lost his heart, Isa had always been there. Of course, Lea had wondered if their relationship was still the same, or if Isa would only stick around as long as Lea acted like the old Lea.
Either way, it didn't really matter, he supposed. He didn't care much anyway.
His plans were unfolding near perfect. Aside from a couple of setbacks, such as Laguna's death and Squall's subsequent break from reality, things were clipping along rather nicely. It wouldn't be too terribly long before he had Xehanort in his grasp and would put the murdering lowlife down like the dog he was. But not before finding out how to get his heart back. Getting the people of Radiant Garden out from under the madman's thumb was just a plus to the whole scheme.
It was really a pity that though he didn't have a heart, he still had a conscience. It wasn't quite as apparent as it had been when he had had a heart, though. It was quieter, a voice that kept him awake at night and unsettled him during the day, like an annoying insect buzzing over his skin but never landing. He had every intention of seeing his plans through, and if it hadn't been for his weakness, it would have been done with a long time ago. But there always seemed to be people in the way, people he almost cared about that could get hurt if he dove in too suddenly. What made it even worse was Xehanort and his ilk didn't seem to have the same handicap.
It was almost funny. People with hearts could be more heartless than he was.
"Lea, it's caught, can we go?"
The red head gave him a demeaning smirk. "Afraid of a little fire?"
Isa twirled his claymore expertly and gave him a serious look. In the blaze of the fire and the dancing shadows, he looked older, more dangerous. "I'm leaving. Whether I have to walk back to the castle, or if you give me a lift in your magic portal is up to you."
Saying words like 'magic portal' kind of ruined the image though. "Fine, fine. Let's go." Lea put his hand out in front of him, tearing open the fabric of time and space. There were a few pluses to his heartless state, number one being shortcuts like this. "After you."
Lea followed close behind Isa as they stepped into the darkness. Off to topple the Kingdom.
"We have fire!" Yuffie's voice chirped over the communication devices wedged in their ears. The exclamation was accompanied by a burst of static and a high squeal that made Squall wince. The devices were an older Balamb Garden design Squall had taken from the Ragnarock, and he was grateful that he had. Despite the world's grand architecture and spacecraft, they seemed to be lacking in technology. "Can we blow up the wall yet?" the ninja asked.
Squall could see the brilliant orange glow on the horizon, lighting up the night from miles away. Lea's abilities were truly impressive.
"Pipe down, Yuffie," Barret grunted over the device, his voice sounding much more distorted than Yuffie's had. "We'll blow up the wall when I say we blow up the wall."
They were all in position, waiting for Squall's cue to commence Phase 2 of their operation. He and Vincent waited on the roof of a building a block away from the castle. Yuffie was perched a block away on the opposite side of the fortress, tasked with the simple job of blowing up the western and southern walls. Irvine and Aeris were placed on a nearby roof to attack and heal from afar. Hiding out on ground level beneath them were Selphie, Barret, Tifa and Zack. Cid was supposed to be in the castle already, securing the Ragnarok.
It was the time in an operation Squall hated most: the waiting. There was nothing to do but watch and think, allowing thoughts to wander to places Squall would rather not dwell on.
His conversation with Irvine the day before, for instance.
"Squall?"
Squall glanced up from his maps at the hesitant voice. He sat up, wincing at the soreness in his back. He had been hunched over his plans far too long. "What is it?"
Irvine looked past him to the maps on the table. "I wanted to give you my opinion on your plan."
Squall did not want to hear it. He already knew. He had looked at it from a dozen angles, assessing weaknesses in the formation, the possible outcomes, the numbers they would be dealing with. Nothing about it looked good. "It's not a good plan. I'm aware."
Irvine's blue eyes shot up to meet his, flashing in a defiance the cowboy rarely demonstrated. "Then why, Squall? Why are we going in there, risking our lives for someone else's world? It's not our responsibility." He paused a second. "It wasn't Quistis' or Zell's, either."
Squall clenched his jaw. He did not need reminding.
"This isn't our fight, Squall. We should just pack up and leave, right now."
Squall didn't reply for a moment. He carefully assembled his words in his mind, arranging them so they would have the most effect. Finally, he met the cowboy's gaze with steely resolve. "Irvine, I have people in that castle. People that trusted me to make the right call for their wellbeing. I've already failed them once. It's not going to happen again. I'll do it alone, if I have to, but I'm not going to sit by and watch them go through what Cloud did in Xehanort's labs. I am no longer your commanding officer. You don't have to be here. Leave if you want."
Irvine didn't say anything for a long time, a thick, stifling tension settling between them. Finally, though, he turned around and left the way he had come, and Squall wondered if maybe he was leaving for good.
Irvine hadn't left after all. He was out there, ready to begin the assault at Squall's command. Squall wasn't sure if it were guilt or duty that motivated him, but at this point, he didn't care. He desperately needed the firepower.
There were a million things that could go wrong with his plan. All things considered, it wasn't even a good plan, but what choices did they have? There were too many lives at stake, and they were too far in to drop everything and run. The longer they waited, the more likely they would be captured. Squall had good people working in the castle, and he'd sooner off himself than abandon them to a fate under a madman's rule. He had experimented with his people before. Zack, Cloud, Vincent, Sephiroth and Lea were living proof of that. There was no telling what Xehanort would do, but if his lust for knowledge and what had transpired in his lab was any kind of measure, Squall didn't really want to dwell on it. It would make him sick.
The castle gates open and the army poured out. Soldiers armed with shovels and mages with magician hats rode out on chocobos, all heading toward the bright flare. Squall didn't see very many weapons on their person. He did catch sight of a few of his people though, their weapons at their side. Cadet Reynolds had made good on her word.
A hollow ripping sound yanked Squall from his thoughts. He and Vincent both spun, ready to dispatch any threat with a blade or a bullet.
Isa stepped out of the portal, followed closely by Lea. "It's time to get this party started," Lea announced, oblivious or unconcerned with the weaponry pointed at him.
Squall lowered his gunblade. "We'll wait for the army to get too far away to hear. My people should be able to handle them after that." He turned back to gaze over the wall and watch.
"Whatever you say, Squally." Lea collapsed to the ground, propping his feet up on the side of the wall lining the roof.
"You could at least pretend you're nervous," Isa muttered, crossing his arms in front of him. "This is mostly your doing."
"Number one, I couldn't be nervous if I tried. Number two, I didn't kill our dear Ansem. That was all Xehanort. So obviously, it's all his fault."
Squall tried his best to tune them out, to focus and prepare his mind, but their voices kept interrupting his thoughts, dragging him out of his meditations and piquing his temper.
"That sounds mature," Isa muttered.
"No one asked you."
"Even more mature."
"Isa, don't make me set you on fire."
"Both of you, quiet," Vincent hissed. "Before I put a round in your skulls."
"Easy, Valentine," Lea scolded. "This is a big operation. Shouldn't you be meditating or something?"
Squall saw a vein appear on Vincent's forehead. "Quiet, Lea," Squall muttered, making a halfhearted attempt to spare the redhead's life. Since he obviously had no sense of self-preservation.
"Are we going to move or not?" Cid's tiny voice crackled in his ear. Despite the aged technology and interference, his irritation came through clearly. "I can't sit on this thing forever."
"Give it five," he responded.
Cid muttered something Squall couldn't understand before ending the transmission.
The seconds ticked by slowly in relative silence. The tension on the roof rose with each passing minute until Squall was finally satisfied with the time elapsed. He activated his mike. "Red Team, commence Phase 2. Blue Team, Green Team, standby."
Red Team, otherwise known as Yuffie, let out a whoop of delight, accented by a thunderous roar. Light flared and buildings shook as the western wall went up in flames. Nearby buildings were scorched and rubble and shrapnel hurled through the air a hundred meters from the blast zone.
"Wasn't that a bit overkill?" Isa questioned. It seemed Yuffie had gone a bit overboard with the explosives.
It was like stirring an ant hill with a stick. The castle became a hive of activity, men pouring out from the castle and barracks in one dark wave. Soldiers held their weapons at the ready while what few mages they had left put all their efforts into putting out the fire.
The numbers weren't quite what Squall was expecting, though. There seemed to be fewer than he had counted on. Why? Had they been deployed somewhere? The vacant facility on the other side of the city, perhaps? Or inside the castle, maybe, defending their leaders or protecting something more dangerous?
Laguna had always said never to look a gift chocobo in the mouth, but Squall couldn't help but be leery.
When the activity had condensed to the western wall, Squall spoke into his mike. "Red Team, commence Phase 3," he ordered.
"Commencing Phase Three," Yuffie confirmed. Apparently she remembered radio protocol now. There was a much smaller explosion on the north wall. Unlike the first detonation, it was laid precisely and made to deal damage without the flash and flare. In light of the first attack, this one went mostly unnoticed, masked by the roar of flames and shouts of personnel.
"Red Team, rendezvous with Blue Team. Blue leader, proceed when ready. Gold Team is heading in."
Squall turned around to view his team. "Remember, this is a stealth operation. In and out, no side quests. Once Xehanort and his cohorts are eliminated, we're out. Clear?" Everyone responded with a nod. "Let's go, Lea."
Lea responded immediately with a flashy wave of his hand. The portal swirled to life in front of him. Squall stepped through after Lea, holding his gunblade at the ready as he walked into the cold basement.
It was a risky place to start at, to be sure, but it was a likely place for at least one of the scientists to be. Maybe they would even get lucky and find Xehanort first.
With steeled nerves and heightened senses, Squall led them into the dimness.
Cloud watched the silver haired warrior pace the wall, like a caged tiger. He was waiting, rather impatiently, for the apprentices to form some kind of plan. Cloud didn't like the way they had excluded the both of them from the planning. The apprentices in question were all seated around the wooden table in the briefing room, staring at one another as if waiting for a strategy to form from the air between them.
"Well? What should we do?" Even asked after yet another span of silence.
"I told you," Braig said with a glare. "Just call back the army to take care of the pests. This is the opportunity we've been waiting for. Every one of the traitors is at our doorstep!"
"The fire has to be our first priority," Dilan said. "What if it reached the city? There are too many lives-"
"Don't be so pathetic, Dilan," Braig retorted, kicking back in his chair and balancing it on two legs. "They're cannon fodder. We have bigger concerns at the moment."
"It won't take long for the palace guard to be overwhelmed," Aeleus murmured in his quiet bass. "They are poorly trained and out of practice. A decision needs to be made."
"We could send the General and his puppet to clean up downstairs," Braig said, casting the two a calculating glance.
The word "puppet" caused a hitch in Cloud's thought processes, the barest interruption in an otherwise seamless façade. His mind circled the word, going back to it over and over again like a broken record.
Puppet. Puppet . . .puppet.
That meant something. It made his chest hurt and his back ache where his black wing twitched restlessly. An uneasy feeling crept into his stomach and his eyes were drawn to Sephiroth. The warrior's gaze was turned toward the apprentices, but when he felt Cloud's eyes on him, he turned to meet his gaze. The poison green eyes glowed and the corner of his lip quirked upward and Cloud forgot the word.
"General?" Xehanort asked. "Do you think you could handle that?"
The expression fell from Sephiroth's face as he turned back to them and said, "Perhaps I may offer a plan of my own, as your thought processes seem to be running in circles."
The barest hint of a smirk quirked Xehanort's lips as he regarded the general. It wasn't an amused smile, though. It was threatening and made Cloud's insides crawl. "Very well. What is your plan?"
"Release the Heartless again."
The apprentices looked from Sephiroth to each other, their faces a combination of trepid and thoughtful. "Release the Heartless?" Even repeated. "We can't do that."
"Why not?" Braig asked. "We've done it before. It's a good idea.
"We completely lost control last time," Dilan objected. "There are already several dozen that escaped from the last assault, out roaming the streets. If we released more and messed this up, we could end up with-"
"What'd I tell you about being pathetic?"
"That's enough, Braig," Xehanort said, his tone thoughtful rather than rebuking. "The General poses a viable option. Possibly our only option. How many of the Heartless do you think it would take, Sephiroth?"
"Not knowing the strength of our enemy, a few dozen of the stronger ones should suffice," the soldier said. "Large Bodies or Defenders. Or perhaps even the Behemoth."
At that, even Braig looked skeptical, but it was Dilan that protested. "We haven't had the Behemoth long enough to-"
"That seems like a manageable number," Xehanort interrupted, his serpentine eyes glittering.
"Xehanort?" Even questioned. "Not that I object, but you do realize the consequences, should we lose control of Heartless that strong?"
A vicious smile split the scientist's face. "I realize."
Okay, I'll admit it, I'm not happy with this chapter -.- But I didn't want to make you guys wait forever for me to finish tweaking. I've sat on it for a month already . . .Hope the color teams wasn't too confusing (completely took that from Star Wars haha XD).
I hadn't had a Lea POV on purpose until now. I just wanted to show that everything's coming together and wanted Lea to tip his hand a bit XD I love writing in his head. It's fascinating :3
Please review, and have a great day!
God Bless,
-RainFlame