Chapter 8
Love and Peace
(Selphie)
Trabia had always been a cold place, year-round. Trabia Garden, tucked in the valley formed by a crescent-moon-shaped ridge of mountains at the northernmost rim of the world, had previously seen winters where the snow piled up twice the height of its tallest students, and summers so cool the long sleeves and pants of the Garden's uniform were sometimes insufficient, even at midday.
Selphie spent much of her life in Trabia Garden, and thought she was prepared for its coldness. But as she soon learned, there is a difference between living in Trabia under a warm roof, having classrooms with central heating and dorms with thick blankets on the beds, and living in Trabia with nothing but flimsy tents, shattered ruins of walls, and ragged, scavenged clothes for protection.
When Trabia had been whole, the cold had been a distant part of the landscape. Always there, but easily forgotten. But the Galbadian missiles had brought the walls down, and the cold was free to roam everywhere, touch everything. It was summer now, and the day warmed by degrees as the morning marched onward, but the night—like all the nights before it—felt like the dead of winter. In the darkness, the cold crept down from the mountains and covered the ruined Garden, only reluctantly leaving the valley as the sun crested the mountaintops.
Selphie woke up. In her tiny two-person tent, she had to duck her head—even while sitting—to keep from bumping against the cloth tent as she rose up and yawned. Blankets were hard to find, so Selphie's night attire consisted of a brown wool cap pulled down almost over her eyes, a scarf, three ragged shirts layered on top of each other, and a pair of denim overalls, all worn over her regular yellow dress. With her mismatched clothes, she looked like a derelict. The chill in her spine and rumble in her stomach made her feel like a derelict as well.
(It'll get better soon.)
She yawned again, loudly and dramatically. On a wooden plank beside her, her friend curled into a ball and moaned, her back facing Selphie.
"Come on, come on," Selphie said. She put her hand on her friend's shoulder and pushed. "I know you're up, Tomomi. Daylight's a-wastin' here."
"Let it waste," Tomomi said. "We'll get some more tomorrow."
"Fine, I'll give you a couple more minutes," Selphie said. "Just be up before the boys."
"Mmrph."
Selphie leaned forward and unzipped the tent. She crawled outside and zipped the flap closed behind her. She stood up, stretched, and looked around the ruins. What used to be Trabia Garden's basketball court was now the girls' dormitory. A couple dozen tents of varying shapes and sizes poked out among the chunks of asphalt. Some of these tents had been supplied by Irvine and Selphie—a gift from Trabia's new ambassadors—while others had been scavenged from the wreckage. The tents weren't much, but they provided a semblance of privacy and a little bit of warmth.
A few other girls were milling around the tents, pulling clothes, tools, and other things they would need for the day out of their tents. Selphie greeted them all as she stomped her boots around cracks in the shattered pavement. They all smiled back warmly enough, but none could hope to match her cheerfulness. Although everyone in Trabia was enthusiastic about rebuilding their home, sometimes enthusiasm and cheerfulness were two different things. Among Selphie's many jobs was making sure that those two concepts mixed more often.
(Gotta keep everyone happy!)
Down a dirt path and around the remnants of a wall was the soundstage that once formed the centerpiece of Trabia's quad. The stage was elevated by wooden posts, holding it about waist-high off the dirt. Underneath the stage was the new boys' dormitory. There hadn't been enough tents for everyone, so it was agreed that the girls would get all the tents and the boys would get the quad. It seemed fair enough. The stage formed a crude roof, and aside from the front section, it was completely enclosed. All the sleeping bodies heaped on the ground, tucked in sleeping bags, cloth, and blankets made it feel almost warm under the stage.
Selphie stood next to the broken stairs that led to the top of the stage and bent over, peering underneath the wooden slats into the crowded mass of testosterone. Sunlight shone through the cracks of the stage, allowing Selphie just enough light to see that the boys were still asleep.
"WAKE UP CALL!" Selphie said. "Girls win again!"
Dozens of heads shot up, startled, their faces almost indistinguishable in the dim light underneath the stage. When they realized where they were, many of them put their heads down and went back to sleep.
"I think it's just you that's awake, Selphie," a tired voice in the back mumbled. "All the other girls are asleep, I bet."
"Nu uh!" Selphie said. She put her hands on her hips, indignant. "Come look! We're all awake already. You guys lose again."
A few voices in the back had a heated whispering argument. Selphie could hear the words, but couldn't make out who was fighting with whom.
"You were supposed to wake us up, man!"
"I know, I know. I fell asleep. Sorry."
"You can never stay awake."
"We're never put you on wake up duty ever again."
"He'd probably like that."
Selphie slapped the top of the stage a few times, the sound echoing loudly under the stage, like beating a drum. The boys moaned in protest of the noise.
"Better luck next time," she said before moving on.
It was Selphie's idea to make a competition between the two dorms. Trabia was in desperate need of games, even if it was a simple, "Who can wake up first?" game. The rules were: the sun had to be out, and the whole dorm had to be awake. The losers had to make breakfast.
The girls had been on a long winning streak, so the boys didn't bother to call Selphie's bluff and check to make sure that the girls were actually awake, instead taking her word for it. Their laziness had helped contribute to extending the girls' winning streak for another day.
(Gotta make sure everyone's up.)
The jig was up if one of the boys crawled out from under the stage and staggered over to the basketball court to find half the girls' dorm still in their tents. So another of Selphie's many jobs—in addition to making games and keeping everyone cheerful—was to make sure the girls were actually awake before the boys.
To her surprise and delight, when she rounded the corner to the basketball court, she found that all the girls had gotten up on their own, and were outside their tents, chatting, adding or removing layers of clothes, stretching. Even Tomomi had dragged herself out of her tent and was kneeling, blinking in the sunlight, in front of the open mouth of the tent.
"Did we win?" Tomomi asked when Selphie approached.
"Of course!" Selphie said. "We kick butt!"
"Yay," Tomomi said sleepily.
Walking back and forth between the dorms had warmed Selphie up to the point where she was almost beginning to sweat. She unbuttoned her overalls and pulled them off, then crumpled them into a ball and tossed them into the back of the tent. Tomomi yawned loudly. Her yawn triggered several more yawns across the basketball court, including one from Selphie.
Selphie looked out beyond the ruins, at the distant circle of mountains that walled off the Garden. In the east, the sun had only halfway emerged above the mountains, casting long shadows across the basketball court.
A few minutes later, footsteps approached along the dirt path. Selphie looked over the tops of the tents and saw Irvine's familiar black cowboy hat approaching. Irvine stopped just as he walked into full sight and covered his eyes with one hand, smiling.
"You ladies decent?" he asked.
"You hopin' for a 'yes' or a 'no?'" Selphie yelled out, laughing.
Irvine shrugged. "I heard a rumor there was some pillow-fighting going on, and I wanted to see if ya'll needed some help. Help breaking it up, I mean."
"Bring us some pillows, and we'll gladly fight you," Tomomi said.
"Yeah!" Selphie said.
Irvine grinned, his mouth visible below his hand. "Chow's on when ya'll are ready."
He pivoted on his foot, his brown trench coat swirling dramatically as he headed back the way he'd come. Selphie watched him go, following his black cowboy hat until it was out of sight.
The promise of food shook off the last remnants of sleepiness from the girls, and as one huddled mass, they followed after the cowboy ambassador down the dirt road.
Beyond the quad were three blasted walls of what used to be the Garden's science room. Like everything else in Trabia, it served a new function following the missile blast; now it was the cafeteria.
What few useable desks that could be salvaged were grouped together in the middle of the uneven floor. An island that used to have sinks and gas pipes now supported a few rusty pots and pans sitting on makeshift burners, heating up some mystery dish. The flames were provided by a couple of propane tanks, obtained in a trade at the nearest village.
Irvine and the rest of the boys stood grouped behind the island as the girls walked up. The long nights and few supplies at Trabia had taken its toll on Irvine, like it had with Selphie. His normally perfect hair was tangled and a bit greasy under his cowboy hat. Underneath his trench coat were a few scavenged t-shirts for extra warmth. Dirt smudged his face and circles had formed under his eyes. But despite his bedraggled appearance, his cheerfulness never wavered.
(We gotta be good ambassadors. Both of us. Can't let everyone down.)
"Good morning, ladies," Irvine said. He swept his arm to his waist and bowed deeply. "Today, chef Irvine has prepared for you a succulent dish of canned beans, harvested fresh from the local cardboard box in the corner. I find that the dish goes best with our white wine, Chateau de Boiled Water. Enjoy."
The girls, laughing softly at Irvine's humor, formed a single file line, grabbing cracked dinner plates which Irvine loaded with beans, steaming in the cool air. A boy at the end of the island handed the girls glasses of water. After the last of the girls passed through the line, the boys were then allowed to finish off what was left. While the boys often complained about kitchen duty, Selphie was beginning to suspect that the boys weren't as upset as they claimed. After all, they got to eat everything the girls left behind, which was usually more than half the meal.
(It all works out in the end.)
Irvine used a ladle to scoop up Selphie a plate of beans. He handed it to her and smiled. Somehow, even though he'd just woken up, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were dirty, Irvine still looked like a fashion model. As if everything about him was deliberately planned by an artist with a unique vision. She was painfully aware of the fact that the cold and the dirt never touched his eyes, which were clear and warm.
Selphie shivered, and smiled back. She took the plate and a glass of water and moved on.
(It's just chilly this morning. That's all.)
She grabbed a seat next to Tomomi. Her seat, in this case, was an overturned paint bucket. The plastic ridges in the bottom of the bucket dug uncomfortably into her butt, making her constantly readjust for better positioning while she ate and talked.
All around, the survivors gathered together for their morning meal. Trabia had never been a very large school, but now it was barely a school at all. It was hardly even a class. Of all the people she used to know, all her friends and classmates, teachers and faculty, less than fifty people huddled around in the old science lab—all of them students.
The surviving faculty fled after the bombing. They had done what they could to help the survivors and bury the dead, but they were quick to declare that Trabia was hopeless, and they moved on elsewhere. They had homes and families in other towns that they wanted to return to, and couldn't justify staying at Garden, working jobs that no longer existed.
But like the other Gardens, Trabia's students were mostly orphans. There was no home to return to, no family waiting for them across the sea. For many of them, these ruins were everything they had in the world. Even Selphie couldn't totally empathize with their situation. After all, she could still go back to Balamb Garden whenever she wanted. Or maybe to Esthar. Meet up with Sir Laguna. There were places she could go, if she had nowhere else.
She joked and laughed with her old friends, but a part of her saw that the smiles on her friends' faces seemed painted on. Their laughter never reached their eyes, never got all the way down to shake their bellies. It was nothing but nervous, tittering laughter, and broken half-smiles. The expressions of people who wished to be happy, but weren't.
(We gotta fix it. We're gonna fix it.)
Selphie smiled and laughed, hoping her friends would do the same.
Fixing a ruined Garden with only scavenged tools and a skeleton crew of half-starved children and teenagers was a nearly impossible task. There was always, always more work to do and never enough people for the job. The students needed to have a working shelter by winter, or else they would freeze to death before the end of the year. But even Selphie, in her endless optimism, was beginning to wonder if that was even possible.
Selphie had imagined, before she'd left Balamb Garden, that things would have gone better and gone quicker. She and Irvine had brought themselves and carload of supplies and food. With a little bit of help and leadership—she'd hoped—Trabia would be back on its feet again in no time. While their help and their supplies were welcome, the food was soon eaten, the supplies divvied up, and Selphie and Irvine were—in the end—only two people.
The car the new ambassadors had brought was actually turning out to be the most useful tool around. Unlike the handful of trucks and other vehicles that had survived the blast, the car was new and in good enough condition to be trusted with making the long trip to the nearest village.
Irvine had the idea to use the car to shuttle students out to work in the nearest village in exchange for additional supplies. It was a great idea, and a huge help to the Garden, but like everything else, it just wasn't enough. The local villagers pitied the school and did their best to assist, but they didn't have much to spare, or much work that needed to be done. Still, the additional food and supplies the villagers were able to part with were essential. Irvine and Selphie stood at the outskirts of the Garden, just beyond the perimeter wall, with a half dozen students lined up.
"All right," Irvine said. "Who's all volunteering for village detail?"
A few hands raised.
"Load up," Irvine said, motioning to the car. The volunteers piled into the car and then drove off to the village for the day.
Selphie and Irvine watched the car trail off in the distance, then separated and went to work on their respective pet projects. Irvine had been excavating a section in the middle of the Garden, trying to reach the underground MD levels. Selphie, meanwhile, had made it her goal to get a communications line between Trabia and Balamb.
When Squall made his new ambassadors promise to establish communications as quickly as possible, Selphie had taken him very seriously. So her main focus was to connect the Gardens. Not only would this fulfill her obligation to Squall and legitimize her status as ambassador, but she also hoped that the link would help speed up the rebuilding process. Communicating with SeeD, they would be able to coordinate the rebuilding process, ask for supplies, and really get their feet under them.
But Trabia's remote location made this dream nearly impossible as well. Trabia's HD cable, its only link to the rest of the world, had been severed in the bomb blast. Despite numerous excavation attempts, no one had yet found what—if anything—remained of the wire. Until they could find that wire, there was almost no way to speak to the outside world.
Selphie had tried to get a radio from the nearby village, but they were just listening radios for playing music, with no ability to send out a signal. Before the blast, Trabia used to order supplies shipped to them from other cities, but they'd used the HD cables to send out the orders. Without the cables to call a boat, Trabia couldn't even mail a letter.
(The cables should be our first priority.)
Selphie clambered over ruins, heading to where the other people in the Cable Crew—as Selphie had named it—were gathered. With the growing heat of the day, Selphie had been gradually shedding layers, until she was finally down to just her familiar yellow skirt and boots. Days of wearing her woolen cap made her hair frizzy beyond repair, so she kept it on her head to keep from looking like a crazy person. The tips of her hair poked out from the bottom of the cap and curled up towards the sky.
She approached a guy in a green shirt and work pants—nicknamed "Port"—as read over an improvised map. He and his friend Lank, a boy in a pale blue cadet's uniform, stood next to a couple other students, including Tomomi. They were all holding shovels, pickaxes, and buckets. Tomomi handed Selphie a shovel and Selphie slung it over her shoulder, ready for work.
"Okay," Port said. His fingers traced along the map as he spoke. "We tried by the main courtyard, and all along the graveyard. So next we should try behind the basketball court."
"West?" Lank said. "Why would they run the cable that way?"
Due west headed straight for the mountains, an odd place for an underground cable. If the cable indeed ran out that direction, it would either have to plow straight through the mountains or curl back down south.
"Hell if I know," Port said. He rolled up the map. "But south and east haven't panned out, so I guess we're trying west now."
Selphie raised her hand, as if asking a teacher a question. "What if we aren't diggin' deep enough?" she asked.
"If they buried the cable more'n six feet down," Port said, "We'll probably never find it."
Selphie gulped. The group headed out to the basketball court.
They crossed the basketball court, stepping their way through the tents until they reached the far side, where there was nothing but bare earth and rocks below them. A few clumps of stubborn crabgrass fought against the relentless cold weather, managing to live despite the elements.
"Who the heck decided to build a Garden way out here?" Selphie said. No one answered her. She kicked a loose rock into a pile of rocks and kept walking, her shovel balanced across her shoulders like a yoke.
A little beyond the basketball court, Port stopped and looked around. "Here's good enough, I guess."
Lank found a spot relatively clear of rubble, and the Cable Crew set their shovels into the earth and began to dig.
They'd been digging deep trenches in the soil for a couple hours and lunchtime was approaching when Selphie poked her head out of the hole she and Tomomi were digging and saw a familiar black cowboy hat heading her way. She froze in shock for a moment, then quickly adjusted her skirt and wiped off some dirt and sweat, then casually got back to work, digging away in her little hole. Tomomi looked at her and giggled.
"What?" Selphie asked. "Something on my face?"
Tomomi smiled, but didn't answer.
Irvine approached the edge of the hole, leaning on his knee and looking down at Selphie. She kept digging, pretending not to be aware of him.
"Heya, Selphie!" Irvine said.
She stopped shoveling and looked up at him, grinning.
"Sup?" she asked.
(Be cool.)
"We're through! Wanna come see?" Irvine said. He gave her a thumbs-up.
"Already?" Selphie asked. Irvine smiled and nodded. Selphie dropped her shovel and jumped in the air. "WOO HOO! Let's go check it out!"
Irvine reached a hand down and helped pull Selphie out of her hole. She smiled apologetically at Tomomi. "I'll be back soon!" she said.
"I'll be here," Tomomi said, resuming her work. "Here or some other hole just like it."
Selphie walked with Irvine as he led the way towards the middle of the Garden, where the damage from the missiles was most severe. While the outer rim of the Garden was still largely recognizable, the middle section was a hopeless pile of rubble and twisted steel. After the missiles hit, the peaked dome of the Garden had collapsed downward onto its middle, burying the rubble in a second layer of yet more rubble. The two climbed atop this rubble heap, chunks and debris sliding under their feet and hands, watching for glass shards, and continued on to the center.
To Selphie, this was the most depressing sight in the entire Garden. From the top of the debris, Selphie could look down into the crater that now formed the central hub of Trabia Garden. Where there had once been a domed common area, with an artificial waterfall and flowers and small trees, benches for the students to sit, and a colorful school directory, there was now only rocks and bare earth sliding deeper and deeper into a hole.
The outer section of the Garden was ruined, but still maintained an identity. Selphie could differentiate the basketball court from the quad from the classrooms. But here, there was nothing. Just a big, empty hole in the ground, shredded remains of what used to be her home.
Selphie sighed.
(This shouldn't've happened.)
(I should've…)
"Come on," Irvine said. "Almost there."
He smiled and touched Selphie on the shoulder, guiding her down into the crater. He stepped lightly, testing the rubble with his toe to make sure it was stable before putting his whole weight down on it. Selphie followed—quite literally—in his footsteps, double-checking with her own feet before trusting her weight on the steps. The way Irvine moved was just so smooth and natural, while Selphie felt awkward and ungainly, like her arms and legs were a few sizes too long for her body.
She tried not to watch him from the corner of her eyes. She was somewhat successful.
Soon they came to a spot where a half dozen other students had gathered. Some wore Garden uniforms, others wore salvaged civilian clothes. They were all crouched down, holding flashlights and pointing them down to a hole they had excavated in the rubble. Irvine and Selphie approached them.
"Looks safe enough, I guess," one of the students said to Irvine. "But I still don't know if it's a good idea to go down there. Might be unstable."
(Of course we're gonna go!)
"We gotta check it out!" Selphie said. She danced in place, excited at the prospect of exploration and discovery. "Don't worry, Irvy and I will go. We'll ambassadorate the underground as well as the overground!"
"Er… not sure 'ambassadorate's' a word, Selphie," Irvine said. He tugged at the brim of his hat, an expression Selphie had learned signaled slight embarrassment. It was as if Irvine was trying to hide his face with his hat. The others in the group shared his smile. It wasn't much, but Selphie could see the honesty in their humor. They weren't forced smiles, put on to make Selphie feel better.
(Good enough for now.)
"We got some rope and flashlights," the student said. He revealed a long nylon rope and a pair of heavy-duty flashlights. "Be careful, you two."
"Gotcha," Irvine said. He took one flashlight and passed the other to Selphie. They clicked them on and off to make sure they worked. Irvine took the coil of rope from the student and slung it over his shoulder.
Without waiting for anyone to give her permission, Selphie leapt from the ruins down the hole Irvine and the others had dug, landing onto a heavy sheet of metal that used to be the ceiling of the Garden's main elevator. The metal banged and twisted as she landed, nearly giving way. Selphie didn't really notice. She crouched down and jumped through the hole in the roof, landing inside the darkened elevator.
She took out her flashlight, clicked it on, and shone the beam around inside the cramped elevator. The walls had been warped by the blast and were pockmarked, stained with ash and soot, but otherwise it looked the way she remembered it. The floor slanted to the side a little bit, but Selphie could still stand on it easily enough.
"Heads up," Irvine said. He dangled his feet over the edge of the hole. Selphie moved aside, allowing Irvine to drop down into the elevator next to her. Selphie continued to shine her light around, but still didn't see anything unusual in the elevator.
Finally, she got frustrated and turned to Irvine, shining the light at his face. He winced and blocked the beam with his hand. Selphie angled the beam down at his chest and asked, "You sure Squall said it was in the elevator?"
"Positive," Irvine said. "He said there was a trapdoor in the bottom of the elevator that led to the MD levels of Balamb Garden."
Selphie looked around the bottom, shining her light around wildly. "I don't see a trapdoor…"
"Might be under the carpet," Irvine said.
The two got on their hands and knees and began tugging at the corners of the carpet, trying to get it to lift up. The carpet, like the rest of the elevator, had survived the blast quite well and stubbornly resisted being pulled up. Finally, Selphie managed to slide a finger under the edge. After she got one finger in, she was able to wiggle in a second and a third, until her whole hand was under the carpet. She stood up, still gripping the carpet, and pulled, yanking it from the floor with a ripping sound.
With the corner pulled up, Selphie peered over the carpet and shone her light onto the metal floor beneath. It was blank.
"No trapdoor here," Selphie said. "Bummer."
Irvine said, "Might be under a different corner. Keep pulling."
The two shuffled around in the small elevator to give Selphie room to pull up more of the carpet. The carpet separated from the metal, sending up little plumes of dust that swirled in the beams of the flashlights. When fully half the carpet was curled up in Selphie's hand, she pointed the beam down again and this time, she saw the outline of a rectangular person-sized hatch in the other corner.
"Hey!" Selphie said. "Squall's not crazy after all."
"I wouldn't go that far…" Irvine said with a smirk.
"Tee-hee," Selphie said.
According to Squall, he and the others—following Headmaster Cid's instructions—had found a tunnel under a hatch beneath the elevator that lead down into the Garden's subbasement levels. They then worked their way through the inner guts of the Garden, finding a control panel that freed Garden from its roots and made it mobile.
Of course, there was no guarantee that Trabia would be mobile or even have a subbasement, but if both Balamb and Galbadia Gardens were mobile, it was likely that Trabia was as well. So, finding and excavating the elevator shaft had become Irvine's pet project. Irvine knew that making Trabia mobile now would probably cause more damage and undo the repairs the students had already done, but if the underground levels were clear and stable, they could be used as a shelter to protect the students through the coming winter.
Selphie held up the carpet, holding the beam of light steady on the hatch. Irvine stepped around the carpet and reached down into handhold in the hatch. He lifted it up, revealing a darkened passageway and a warped ladder going down into oblivion. He shone his light down the hole, but the beam ended well before it reached bottom.
Irvine whistled.
"That is a deep hole…" Selphie said.
"No kiddin'," Irvine said.
"You guys find somethin'?" a student called from above.
"Yeah!" Irvine shouted back up. "We're gonna check it out."
"Be careful," the student replied.
"We're professionals!" Selphie said. "We got this under control."
The two examined the ladder than led down into the hole. The rungs had been warped by the impact of the missiles and had started to rust. Irvine kicked the nearest rung, sending up a cloud of dirt. The metal thrummed with the impact, but didn't break loose.
"I don't trust this ladder," he said. He straightened up and uncoiled the rope around his shoulder. He tied one end to the handrail inside the elevator and held on to the rope.
"I'm going down first," Irvine said. "I'll let you know if it's safe to come down after."
(Pshaw!)
"What happened to 'ladies first?'" Selphie asked. Still holding up the carpet, she stuck out a hand, blocking Irvine from reaching the hole.
"I dunno if this is a 'ladies first' type situation, you know?" Irvine said. He rubbed at his neck. "That's for like, going to dinner parties or the movies. But when there's danger and stuff, it's usually guys first."
"So guys get to have fun and explore and girls have to wait in the elevator?" Selphie asked.
Irvine shrugged. "Yeah, basically," he said.
"Nu uh. Gimme the rope."
Without further complaint, he handed the rope to Selphie. She tied a mountain-climber's harness around her waist and between her legs—something unique to the education of Trabia Garden's students—and faced the hatch. Irvine scooped up the slack from the rope and held it, feeding it out slowly. He used his body to keep the carpet from falling back over the hole.
"Ready when you are," Irvine said.
Holding her flashlight downwards in one hand, Selphie sat on the edge of the open hatch and dangled her legs down. She stuck her foot out, searching around with her toe until it found one of the rungs of the ladder. She put her other foot on the rung and gradually pressed her weight down on it. The metal rungs creaked and groaned under her weight, but didn't break.
(Seems safe enough.)
Selphie crawled down into the hole and began descending the ladder. Above her, in the elevator, Irvine leaned back and put both feet firmly against the wall, bracing himself to catch her in case she fell. He held the rope loosely in both hands, allowing it to slip through his fingers so she could climb down. Knowing Irvine had the rope safely in hand, Selphie quickly descended the ladder, holding her flashlight in her mouth as she went down, rung by rung.
The ladder croaked worryingly with every step. She went down a dozen rungs, then two dozen, then three and four. At intervals, she stopped descending and pointed her beam down the elevator shaft. Only darkness and the metallic walls of the shaft were visible. Above her was a tiny, pale dot of light where she had come in, growing smaller and smaller as she descended.
The spirit of adventure had gripped Selphie. She had only been mildly curious before, when Irvine had first started digging around for the elevator shaft, but now she was almost dying to see what was at the bottom of the hole. Squall had talked about control panels and ancient Centra machines and gears shaped like spheres and a whole bunch of neat stuff inside of Balamb's guts.
Her imagination took hold as she envisioned what could be hiding in the depths of Trabia. Maybe there were supplies down there. Scraps they could salvage and use to rebuild the Garden, canned foods, fuel, something. Or if nothing else, at least a big, warm room where the coldness of the night couldn't reach the students. The ladder could be reinforced so that it would be safer for the students to go up and down every day. With a little bit of work, the students could have something resembling a real shelter.
Selphie had been able to do so little to help since arriving to Trabia. Wouldn't it be great if she could unearth a buried treasure from right below the Garden? Then the trip from Balamb would have been meaningful, her contribution valuable. She hadn't been able to stop the missiles; the least she could do was help mitigate the damage done by them.
(I gotta see what's down there.)
She paused and pointed her mouth—still holding the flashlight—down the shaft. It finally hit something resembling a floor.
(YES!)
"YYYYMMMSSSMMM!" Selphie yelled up the elevator shaft. Distantly came Irvine's reply.
"What?" he said.
Selphie took the flashlight out of her mouth. "I found something!"
"What is it?" Irvine asked.
"Dunno, lemme look."
She put the flashlight back in her mouth and went down the last dozen or so rungs. She dropped down onto the floor, discovering that it was not a regular floor, but tightly packed dirt. She grabbed her flashlight and pointed it around, her heart sinking when she realized the situation.
It was not the end of the shaft. Or, at least, not the intended end. One side of the elevator shaft had cracked open, dumping in a wave of soil, which poured through the hole and plugged up the shaft. She could see the top of that hole where it had all come in. The dirt had filled up the elevator shaft, burying whatever was hidden in Trabia's heart.
(It's not fair…)
Defeated, Selphie plopped down on the dirt and shone her beam around, looking for anything that might allow her to continue her journey. Maybe another path, another ladder, something. But she was alone with the dirt, and that stupid crack in the elevator shaft that had let it all in.
"Hey! What's down there?" Irvine called.
Selphie sighed. "Nothing…" she called up. "… There's nothing down here."
Oh well.
So what if there wasn't anything down the elevator shaft? It's not like they were depending on finding something down there. They had other plans in motion. Selphie could still work on finding the HD cable. And once they got the cable connected, they could communicate with SeeD and order supplies from other towns. The elevator shaft was just a minor setback.
(It'll be okay!)
Irvine pulled her up and out of the shaft. The other students then helped pull both of them out of the elevator. They handed off their flashlights and rope to the students and Selphie brushed off the layer of dirt that collected on her while she was in the shaft.
"You wanna take a quick walk?" Irvine asked.
"Sure!" Selphie said.
He turned and retraced his steps through the rubble, perfectly remembering the safe places to set his weight down. Once again, Selphie picked the same course as him, carefully setting her big, clunky boots down on the sliding ruins.
When they stepped off the ruins and headed into the Garden's front courtyard, Selphie became intensely aware of the fact that she and Irvine were alone. For the past few days, their respective reconstruction projects had kept them apart. Or, on the occasions when they were together, they were surrounded by lots of other people. This was their first private moment in some time.
Selphie found herself becoming very nervous.
"You know, we don't get much chance to talk these days," Irvine said. He strode slowly through the courtyard, heading for the front gate. "I mean, just you and me."
"I know!" Selphie said, maybe a little too loudly, too enthusiastically. She couldn't seem to control herself. "I don't hardly get a chance to talk to any of my friends anymore. Everyone's too busy."
Irvine laughed once, as if Selphie had told a joke. She frowned at him. She didn't see what was funny about not talking to her friends.
"Heh… I guess that's true," Irvine said. He looked up at the road ahead of them, at long stretch of cracked pavement ahead of them. There was no one else around.
She expected Irvine to follow up with something, a sarcastic comment or a flirty double entendre, but he remained silent. She tried to gauge his emotions, but his face revealed nothing and his eyes were focused ahead.
(Was it something I said?)
"So whatdja wanna talk about?" Selphie asked. She bounced on her toes as she walked.
Irvine waved off her question. "Nothin'. Just… sayin' how we don't get to talk much, is all."
(Oh, I get it.)
"You pullin' that 'lonesome sniper' thing again?" Selphie asked. She pushed him gently on the shoulder, feeling his weight under her hand. "Cause it don't work on me, you know."
"No…" Irvine said. "I'm not pullin' anything right now."
He lapsed into silence again. Selphie felt the nervous tittering in her stomach begin turning into concern. Ordinarily, Irvine mirrored her emotions, her jokes. Now he was just being solemn and quiet, completely unlike him.
(Is there something wrong?)
"What are you gonna do when Trabia's fixed?" Irvine asked. He kept his eyes forward, not looking at her.
Selphie shrugged. "Dunno. Haven't thought about that yet."
She'd already come to accept the fact that it would be a very long time before Trabia could be considered "fixed," and even then it would never be the way she remembered it. Those thoughts took precedence in her mind, and the far off future wasn't worth worrying about yet. She had enough concerns already.
"We'd still be ambassadors," Irvine said. "I read the contract, and it doesn't end when we fix Trabia. Technically, we could be ambassadors here together for as long as we want."
She tried to imagine the future: Trabia, healthy and whole, full of students again. Connected to Balamb Garden, with her and Irvine talking to Squall over the cables, organizing the two Gardens. Exchanging students, supplies. Would she wear a uniform again, and would it be Trabia's uniform, or Balamb's? Would they eventually get together with Galbadia Garden as well? Unite the three Gardens?
(That's WAY too far in the future.)
"I dunno…" Selphie said.
"You dunno what?" Irvine asked.
She sighed. Her thoughts and feelings resisted being tied down with words. "I dunno. I'm just… doing one thing at a time, you know? That stuff can wait for later."
"Would you wanna go back to Balamb, when Trabia's fixed?" Irvine asked.
(Why's he asking all these questions?)
The two reached the perimeter wall. The wall—or most of it—survived the missiles, but all the mechanisms controlling it were damaged, freezing the massive steel doors permanently closed. To allow students to get in and out, they had tossed a green wire mesh over the wall, forming an improvised ladder on both sides.
Selphie stopped there, but Irvine went on, grabbing the green wire mesh and climbing up the wall.
(Where's he going?)
She didn't know where he was heading, but she was eager to find out. She jogged up to the wall and grabbed onto the wire mesh, feeling it dig into her fingers as she followed after Irvine.
She thought that he would climb the wall and jump over to the other side, but instead Irvine reached the top and froze, staring into the distance.
"What are you looking at?" Selphie asked.
She planted a boot on top of the wall and stood up, then she saw it, and she too froze in place.
Coming from the south was the red mass of Galbadia Garden. It hovered above the ground, still several minutes away—but moving fast. Judging by the speed it was traveling, the two wouldn't have much time to respond before it was upon them.
"Oh…" Selphie said. "That's what you're looking at."
She couldn't come up with a quick fix for Trabia, or to read Irvine's mind. She couldn't make everyone happy, but she had been trained to fight, and she could do that all too well. Her experience as a SeeD, in battles both in the present and in the distant future, informed her on what to do next.
Immediately, she considered Trabia's strengths and weaknesses. Where could Galbadia's troops break through the perimeter walls? Could the students fall back to the central crater if Galbadia broke through? Where would the youngest children go to hide? How could they use the terrain to their advantage?
(Wish I'd drawn up battle plans before this.)
(Stupid, stupid, stupid.)
Irvine turned to Selphie, his solemnity replaced with urgency. "Sound the alarm. We gotta go grab our weapons and gear. You got your battle junctions up?"
"Always!" Selphie said.
"Let's go!" Irvine said.
Recklessly, they turned and leapt off the wall, back into Trabia Garden. The one-story drop wasn't too high, but the cracked, uneven ground was ripe territory for broken bones and snapped ankles. But their training and experience, coupled with their enhanced physical abilities and heightened awareness, saw them safely to the ground. Selphie landed, rolled, and broke into a run. Irvine dropped into a crouch, then sprinted after her.
"BAAAATLLLLLLE STAAAAAAATIONNNNNNNSSS!" Selphie screamed at the top of her lungs. Her high, piercing voice bounced around the mountains, reverberating again and again, better than any siren Trabia could salvage or purchase.
All the students in the Garden heard the cry, but were slow to respond to the danger. They poked their heads of out holes and around rubble, watching Irvine and Selphie sprint back through the courtyard. Weeks of relative peace and no training or exercise had dulled everyone's reflexes. They understood the order, but were slow to react—partially in disbelief of Selphie's warning.
Now, closer to the heart of the Garden, Selphie called out again.
"GALBADIA GARDEN IS COMING! BATTLE STATIONS! NOT A DRILL!"
This second warning spurred everyone into action. The students dashed to the girls' and boys' dorms, returning with swords, rifles, staves, and armor. Irvine broke away from Selphie and ducked under the quad's stage, vanishing from sight to grab his shotgun while Selphie sprinted up the hill to the basketball court.
All around her, students were either rushing, empty-handed, to one of the dorms, or rushing away from the dorms hauling weapons and gear. Some were guiding the youngest students, little more than toddlers in some cases, away from the front lines and into the relative safety of the central crater. Selphie looked at the confused and terrified faces of the children and wanted nothing more than to stop and comfort them, tell them it was going to be all right.
But she knew the best way to protect them would be to fight, so she kept running.
Selphie bobbed and weaved through the students, arriving at her tent. She yanked open the zipper and dove inside. Tucked in the very back was Selphie's oversized nunchaku and Tomomi's weapons, a pair of three-pronged sai. She grabbed her weapon as well as Tomomi's, then crawled out of the tent and rushed back to the perimeter wall.
Heading back down, she spotted Tomomi running towards the girl's dorm. Selphie cut her off and carefully passed Tomomi's weapons to her. Tomomi took one in each hand and gripped them tightly.
"C'mon!" Selphie said. Tomomi nodded, and together the two rushed back to the front gate, hoping that they would arrive before Galbadia.
As they ran through the courtyard and down the main walkway, Selphie was once again struck by how few people there were in Trabia. Almost everyone had arrived at the wall, but it barely amounted to anything resembling a fighting force. The entire might of all Trabia could be overwhelmed by a single squad of Galbadians.
(Not gonna give up.)
Irvine was already atop the wall, flanked by other students, all brandishing their weapons. Irvine kneeled, bracing his shotgun against his shoulder and lining up Galbadia Garden in his sights. Selphie crashed into the wall and grabbed at the green netting, tearing herself up the wall at a frantic pace.
(This time, I'll save Trabia from the Galbadians.)
She got to the top and saw, to her relief, that Galbadia was still a ways off. Tomomi and the last few students climbed up onto the wall, forming a single file line along its top. Rifles were loaded, arrows nocked, and swords drawn as the students braced for battle.
With a flush of panic, Selphie remembered that Trabia Garden—unlike Balamb—didn't junction Guardian Forces. That meant no magic, no crushing elemental summons to lay waste to dozens of enemies at once. The only long-range attacks came from the dozen or so students who had picked some form of projectile as their weapon specialty. If the odds of Trabia's survival were slim with GF's equipped, they were almost nonexistent without.
(Not gonna give up!)
Selphie brought her nunchaku to eye level, peering between the hole created by the loop of the weapon's chain and the wooden rods. She brought the growing red shape of Galbadia into that circle, as if aiming a gun, then she focused her biggest spell, preparing to send it off as a welcoming gift to the Galbadians.
"Don't attack just yet," Irvine said, speaking to both the gunners on the wall and to Selphie. "Let's see what they want."
Stunned, Selphie's concentration wavered, and the spell she'd been building slipped away from her.
"What?!" she yelled, turning to face Irvine. "Are you crazy?!"
"I don't think they came all this way to start a fight," Irvine said, not looking at her. "And let's be real here; the only way we're gettin' out of this alive is if Galbadia decides to let us go. So let's not start a fight until we're sure that the fight is coming, okay?"
"The only way we're gettin' out is if we WIN!" Selphie said. "And the only way to WIN is to get the first strike!"
Irvine, anger in his voice, lowered his shotgun and stared up at Selphie. "Look, I know what ya'll are feeling, but trust me, G-Garden is filled to the rafters with trained snipers. If they wanted us dead, they could park right where they are and pick us off this wall one by one. But they haven't, so we gotta see what they want."
"They wanna KILL US, that's what they want!" Selphie said, her voice rising to a scream.
"Why?" Irvine said, matching her intensity. "You never think about things! Why'd they come all the way out here? What do we have that they could possibly want?"
"I don't know!" Selphie said. "But whatever they want, they ain't getting' it!"
Galbadia Garden had completely slipped her mind at that point. The only thought in her head was to out-argue Irvine and prove her point. In her anger and frustration, G-Garden could have driven right past her and she wouldn't have noticed.
(He's gone nuts!)
"They've stopped," Tomomi said softly. Selphie broke out of her trance. She and Irvine both looked away from each other and turned to the dominating red figure that stood in the distance. As Tomomi had said, the Garden had stopped moving forward, parking itself just out of range of Trabia's weapons.
Irvine took a breath. "If they open fire," he said to everyone on the wall, "Then we all need to get off this wall and take cover. But until then, stand your ground."
Selphie swallowed. The waiting was unbearable. Galbadia Garden was just close enough for her to hear the alien hum of its ancient machinery, as the blue spinning disk that kept it hovering above the earth slowly rotated around and around. In the stillness, Selphie had time to consider what a horrible, awful death it would be, to take a bullet from a sniper. One minute, alive, standing on the ruined walls of her home. The next, dead, another body to add to the graveyard. Would she feel the impact of the bullet? Or would the lights just suddenly go out?
She felt helpless and exposed, aware of every inch of her body that was open to potential gunfire, but she did not back off the wall. She did not abandon her friends. If the snipers chose to hit her first, at least it would give the others a chance to scramble off the wall. Her death would be the signal that started the battle. The next battle between the Gardens.
(Come at me, Galbadia!)
But instead of gunfire, G-Garden opened up a hatch in the red body of the school. From the hatch came a long silver plank, extending all the way to the ground. And down that plank drove a single Galbadian military vehicle, gray and squat. That particular model, with its short wheel base and bloated body reminded Selphie of a well-fed woodtick. From the driver's side window, a blue flag with a foreign symbol flapped in the wind.
Irvine stood up and relaxed, pointing his shotgun downward. "It's the Galbadian parlay flag. It means they wanna talk. Put down your weapons."
(They just wanna lull us into a false sense of security!)
Although Irvine had no real command authority over the others, they all did what they were told. Nobody, not even Selphie, wanted a fight unless it was unavoidable. Despite her misgivings, Selphie lowered her nunchaku, but still mentally went over possible defensive and offensive spells she could cast to repel certain attacks, depending on what the Galbadians chose to do.
The military car pulled up just beneath the wall and stopped. Selphie could hear the clicks as those with rifles and pistols turned off their safeties and cocked their weapons. The driver's side door opened slowly, and a Galbadian officer in a red uniform stepped out, holding his hands above his head. The passenger door opened next, and a regular G-Soldier in blue stepped out, also holding up his hands in surrender.
"Hold your fire!" the officer called. "Hold your fire! We come in peace!"
In a stunning display of diplomacy and tact, Selphie hollered out, "WHADDYA WANT?"
The officer ignored her and scanned along the wall. Selphie, still remembering all her military training, began to worry that maybe he was counting their numbers, and that this whole "parlay" thing was a ruse to scout out Trabia before attacking. She shifted uncomfortably.
(If that's the case, he ain't gonna live long enough to tell anybody.)
She tightened her grip on her nunchaku and repeated her demand. "WHADDYA WANT?"
"First…" the officer said, raising his voice so that everyone on the wall could hear him. "We wish to apologize for the damage done to your Garden, and the tragic loss of life incurred. It was our missiles that created this devastation, but it was not our will that led to this tragedy. We offer our aid to assist you—"
"WE DON'T WANT IT!" Selphie yelled. "THANKS, BUT NO THANKS! GOODBYE!"
"Selphie…" Irvine muttered. She ignored him.
She felt angry at the officer's so-called apology, and at his offer of assistance. It was hard enough for her to even talk with the officer; the idea of letting him and others like him into the Garden to help rebuild sickened her.
The officer bit his tongue, then continued. "We offer our aid to assist in the reconstruction of your Garden. In exchange, we ask for information about the whereabouts of any sorceresses or potential sorceresses in the area. If you have any information, the nation of Galbadia will reward you for your assistance."
Irvine and Selphie exchanged a confused glance. Others on the wall muttered. Selphie's brain raced, but she couldn't figure out why Galbadia Garden would come out all the way to Trabia to hunt sorceresses.
It had been days since Irvine and Selphie left Balamb, but how much could the world change in a week or so? The world seemed pretty calm when they had left. What had happened since then? Suddenly Selphie felt acutely aware of the Garden's remote location, and how little news they received from the rest of the world.
(The whole world could be a smoking crater, and we'd never hear about it.)
"We don't have any sorceresses here," Irvine said. He made a point of stepping forward and showing the full length of his shotgun to the officer—threatening without threatening.
The officer's eyes were obscured by the silver visor on his helmet, but his head turned towards Irvine. Then he turned to the G-soldier on the other side of the car. The two exchanged a rapid series of whispers, just below Selphie's hearing, before the officer looked up to Irvine.
"Say, you in the hat," the officer said. "Your name… Kinneas? Irvine Kinneas?"
Irvine adjusted his footing and paused a moment. At first, Selphie thought he would say no. Why tell the truth to the Galbadians? But a moment later he replied, "Yeah. What of it?"
"The Headmaster would like a word with you," the officer replied.
"Well, then he's gotta come out here," Irvine said. "Cause I ain't going out there."
"Very well…" the officer said with a nod. He reached slowly into the car. When he saw everyone on the wall tense up, he pulled his hand back. "Just grabbing a radio."
He reached back into the car and pulled out a silver brick with a speaker and a few buttons. He depressed the call button and spoke loudly and clearly into the receiver.
"Send out the Headmaster," he said. "We found Kinneas."
"Roger," a voice on the other end of the line responded.
The tension in the air tripled. Irvine gripped his shotgun so tightly that Selphie could hear the fabric of his gloves creaking. The others along the wall glanced at him, worried and confused expressions on their faces. Everyone knew of his history, and that he was originally from Galbadia Garden, but not much else. He was still a stranger in Trabia, linked to the area only through Selphie.
(Are the others suspicious of him?)
"What does he want?" Irvine asked.
"He's going to make you a deal," the officer said. "The best deal you could ask for."
A moment later, a second Galbadian car—identical to the first, with another parlay flag flying from its window—descended from the Garden's ramp. It sped across the distance between the two Gardens, spraying a cloud of dust behind it. The students along the wall raised their weapons again, ready for anything. Selphie brought up her nunchaku and began sighting the car through the hole in her chain. She didn't call up a spell just yet, but she was braced for it.
The car pulled alongside the first and stopped. From out of the passenger side door, a slightly balding man in an elaborate ankle-length blue coat with brass buttons stepped out of the car and closed the door. His gloved hands were raised, his stern face scanning along the wall, from student to student. He stopped once his eyes settled on Irvine.
(Wait… that's… that's what's-his-name…)
"Irvine Kinneas," Headmaster Martine said. His voice was cold, militaristic. "Why are you here in Trabia Garden? You were supposed to report back to G-Garden after you returned General Caraway's daughter. You have failed in that mission, and are currently registered as AWOL."
"Then expel me," Irvine said, matching the Headmaster's coldness.
Martine lowered his hands to his sides. "You know that mere expulsion is not the punishment for desertion from the military."
Irvine swallowed audibly, but didn't let any emotion bleed through his face. Selphie looked to Irvine, then to the Headmaster. She didn't know what Galbadia's policy was towards AWOL students, but judging by Martine's implied threat, Selphie had a good guess.
(I knew it! They wanna fight!)
Selphie stepped along the wall and stood between Irvine and the Headmaster, her boots dangerously close to the edge. She raised up her nunchaku threateningly.
"You want him?" Selphie asked. "Gotta go through me!"
Emphasizing her point, the other students along the wall raised their weapons. The slim chance for peace was slipping away by the second. Selphie and the others braced themselves for a battle that now seemed unavoidable.
Martine looked to Selphie. He narrowed his eyes in thought.
"I recognize you from somewhere," he said. "That yellow dress is very… distinctive."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY DRESS?" Selphie shouted. She stomped her feet so hard that she slipped and nearly pitched headfirst off the wall. Irvine caught her shoulder and pulled her back to safety. His hands were strong and firm. He guided her off to the side and stepped forward, facing the Headmaster.
"She and I were part of the joint mission between Balamb and Galbadia," Irvine said. "The one you ordered a month ago."
Martine's face relaxed, and he nodded. "Ah, yes. That's it. Now I remember. Heh, seems like ages ago, doesn't it?"
The Headmaster's body language softened and his tone became almost conversational. Selphie didn't trust it. Nobody would go all the way up to Trabia, ask about sorceresses, threaten someone about desertion, and then strike up a friendly little chat. Martine's behavior reeked of manipulation and lies.
(He's up to somethin'. Somethin' sneaky.)
For the third time, Selphie repeated her question, a question which had yet to be fully answered. "Whaddya want?"
Still keeping his tone light, Martine responded. "We're hunting sorceresses. We have devised a simple, quick, and painless method for detecting them, and we are checking major population centers and the Gardens for any who are hiding among the populace. Trabia is the last place on our list before we return to Galbadia."
"Ain't no sorceresses here," Irvine said. "So go look somewhere else."
Martine nodded. "To tell the truth, I'm inclined to believe you. I don't think that Trabia Garden would ever knowingly harbor a sorceress. After the destruction wrought by the Sorceress Edea," he gestured at the ruined wall before him, "I find it difficult to imagine that you would then turn and lend her aid."
At the mention of Edea's name, anger flared up in Selphie's chest.
(What does he know about Matron?)
She stepped forward, "Matr—"
"We just wanna be left alone," Irvine said, cutting her off. "There ain't no sorceresses here."
"I would still like to speak to you," Martine said. "The two of you, actually. In addition to tracking sorceresses, we are also trying to learn as much as we can about them. You two were involved in both Edea's assassination attempt and the later battle between the Gardens, in which Edea was finally defeated. Now, if you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you do it?"
Irvine and Selphie both froze. Neither of them had ever considered that they would need to explain, to a Galbadian, the events of the past month. When Selphie mentally rewound the past weeks, she realized that the story was fantastic to the point of being absurd. A time-traveling sorceress who possesses people in the past? Selphie and Irvine going to the future to stop her? Squall going to the moon? It was a crazy story. Too crazy to tell Martine and expect him to buy it.
(But maybe we should tell him anyway. It's the truth, right?)
Irvine was the first to speak, "How did we do what?"
"Defeat her, I mean" Martine said. He clasped his hands behind his back. "She was unstoppable, in total command of my Garden, and tearing a path of destruction across the world. Then, suddenly, you and a handful of others were seen entering Galbadia Garden, where it is presumed that you found and defeated her. That is what happened, correct? You didn't allow her to escape, did you?"
He eyed the pair. He was close enough to the wall for Selphie to read his expressions, and for him to read theirs. She kept her face blank, not wanting to give him any information at all.
Irvine cleared his throat, but responded quickly. "She has been neutralized."
(Guess that's one way of puttin' it.)
Martine nodded. "Interesting. You see, we are very curious about the details of this… neutralization. As it is, there is currently a situation in Timber involving another sorceress, and General Caraway wants to know how Edea was defeated, so that we can apply that method to this sorceress as well. Right now we have no leads and if you two have an idea as to how to effectively neutralize a sorceress, it could save many lives, both in Galbadia and Timber."
(A sorceress in Timber?)
(Oh no! Rinoa!)
Selphie shot a glance at Irvine. He looked at her, the same worried expression on his face as was on hers. When they'd left Garden, Rinoa was the only known sorceress left in the world. Furthermore, she had strong ties to Timber, and had fought to liberate it from Galbadia. If she, for some reason, had gone to Timber, it was more than possible that she might have stirred something up with the Galbadians.
They both looked at Martine.
"Do you know who this sorceress is?" Irvine asked.
Martine stared at Irvine and Selphie. "You mean you haven't heard? It's all over the news."
"Our cable's down," Irvine said. "Has been since the attack."
(The attack Galbadia sent.)
"That's unfortunate," Martine said. Though his tone expressed remorse, Selphie saw the flicker of a smile catch his lips.
(He's planning something sneaky!)
"If you'd been watching the news," Martine said, "Then you would know that the sorceress in question is Caraway's daughter, Rinoa. The one you were meant to deliver back to Deling City, Kinneas."
Selphie knew that Martine was watching her, and she knew that he was up to something, but still, hearing Rinoa's name cross his lips made her gasp. Irvine, too, could not hold back a quick breath, pulled in through clenched teeth.
(He's lying!)
That was Selphie's first instinct. She believed Martine was a manipulator, and he was playing the two of them like drums. But, there was no possible way that he could know Rinoa was a sorceress. Even Squall and everyone else in Garden didn't know that she was a sorceress until very recently, until Rinoa was brought to Esthar. There was a distant chance that Rinoa had confessed to her father recently, but why would she? She hadn't had any contact with him before, and didn't seem at all interested in ever speaking with him again.
(He's lying!... But… how would he know about Rinoa?)
Martine nodded again. "I'm glad you two realize the gravity of the situation. You see, brute force could overwhelm Rinoa and her small resistance, but this is the General's daughter we are speaking of. He's looking for a way, any way, to end this without harming his only child. If you know something, anything, then you could save her life and many others. If you can't help, or refuse to help, then I'm afraid war is imminent."
Selphie only half listened to his speech. Most of her brainpower was spent analyzing every detail of the past weeks, seeing if there was any way that Martine could have found out about Rinoa. After much thought, she concluded that there was no way at all. Which left only two options: either Martine had made the luckiest guess in the whole of human history—by assuming that Rinoa was a sorceress with zero evidence to prove it…
(… Or he's telling the truth.)
The blood drained from Selphie's face, and coherent thought became impossible. Rinoa was in danger, possibly staring down the whole of the Galbadian army at that moment. War was coming, and she knew that neither Caraway nor Rinoa were the type to back down. If one started a fight, the other would finish it.
"How imminent is this war?" Irvine asked. "Tomorrow? Next week?"
"However long it takes the General to plan an assault and move his troops into place," Martine said. "I shouldn't think more than a day or two at the most. But if you agree to meet with him and discuss possible alternatives to violence, I could convince him to delay his attack. At least for a day or two, to allow you time to arrive in Deling City and speak with him personally. G-Garden has a radio link with the General. I could call him, halt the attack, and escort you to him with my Garden. It's no trouble."
(Us? Go into G-Garden?)
Last time they went in there, the Galbadians were massacring SeeDs left and right, and Sorceress Ultimecia still had control over Matron, and Seifer was her lap dog. She was not eager to pay another visit to G-Garden.
"No way!" Selphie said.
Martine took a deep breath and raised his right hand. The conversational tone dropped from his voice, replaced by the military sternness from the beginning of the conversation. "I swear, on my honor as the Headmaster of Galbadia Garden, that I will ensure you safe transport to and from Deling City. Furthermore, Kinneas, if you agree to this, I will formally discharge you from our service and clear your name, removing your AWOL status from the record. You need never serve us again, if that is your desire."
(Yeah, right!)
"Pshaw," Selphie said. She rolled her eyes "Raising your hand and makin' promises. Like we'd fall for that."
"Fine," Irvine said. "I'll go."
"WHAT?" Selphie said. She leapt into the air in her shock and outrage. "You're crazy!"
Irvine looked at her. "I believe him," he said. "I've never seen him break a promise. And he's right, I'm technically AWOL now. He could arrest me on the spot."
"SO?"
"I understand your concerns," Martine said. His tone shifted again, back to being friendly and gentle. "But remember, Galbadia Garden, while under my control, has never harmed you. The battle between Balamb and Galbadia was under the command of the sorceress, not me. This is not the same Galbadia that you fought in the fields of the Centra Continent. We truly want peace in the world, and we mean you no harm."
Selphie knew and understood those facts, but it still did nothing to settle her worries. Her instincts screamed that Martine was lying, but her brain couldn't find the flaw in his logic.
Irvine turned to face Selphie. "You stay here and keep up with the rebuilding project. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"But… but what about," Selphie said. She was suddenly afraid, but not sure why. "We're ambassadors now. We're s'posed to stay here."
"Trabia only needs one ambassador right now," Irvine said. "Get the HD runnin' again as soon as possible. Talk with Squall. Figure out what the hell's goin' on in the world. But if Rinoa's in trouble… I can't just stay here let her get hurt."
(She's my friend too!)
Irvine was stupid that way, thinking that all the burdens and responsibilities of the world were his and his alone, just because he was a guy. If Rinoa was in trouble, then she needed her friends to help her—all of her friends.
But Selphie had friends in Trabia as well, and they needed help too. With an aching heart, she realized that no matter what she did—stay or leave—she would be helping one friend and leaving behind another. She couldn't avoid it.
"Go," Tomomi said from behind Selphie. Selphie spun around to face her.
"But… what about you guys?" Selphie said. "I can't just leave all of you!"
Tomomi shrugged. "We'll be okay for now," she said. "Your friend sounds like she needs you." She gestured out at the ruins beyond the wall. "And trust me, there will still be plenty of work left when you guys come back."
With all the weird, conflicting emotions rushing through her, Selphie thought she would go crazy and explode, though perhaps not in that order. She wanted to help Rinoa, she wanted to help Trabia, she didn't want to leave Irvine, she didn't want to leave Trabia, she didn't trust Martine, she was afraid of Galbadia Garden, she hated Martine's smug, ugly face, she thought Martine was lying to her, but she also didn't think Martine was lying to her.
(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)
Irvine reduced her complicated feelings down to the simple choice. "You stayin' or goin'?" he asked.
He reached out one gloved hand. She looked down. His gloves were rifleman's gloves, with the fingertips cut off so he could still easily squeeze a trigger and reload a clip of ammunition. Irvine could play guitar, and the callouses on his fingertips were evidence of that.
"If you don't wanna come, I understand," Irvine said. "But I'd feel better if I wasn't alone."
Selphie looked from his hand to his eyes. Piercing, brown eyes, shaded by the brim of his black cowboy hat in the warm summer afternoon.
(The loneliness of a sharpshooter.)
(… But… I always heard snipers worked in pairs.)
Selphie grabbed his hand.