Chapter 49
You're the Leader
(Quistis)
Through the shattered window on the third floor of Garden, Quistis could see out to the ocean, to where the hulking mass of Galbadia Garden was retreating into the distance. Just moments before she had been seconds from death, a sword pressed against her back, with all of SeeD trapped in a hopeless situation. Now the Galbadians were retreating, SeeD was still alive, and no sorceresses had to be sacrificed to save Garden.
(We will owe Esthar a great debt after this.)
And Quistis would be glad to pay that price. Once Garden was safely through its current troubles, she would have no trouble meeting with President Laguna and discussing his terms for the future. She would never be accused of being ungrateful, or for abandoning her allies after they had come to her rescue.
An Esthar ship—white with gray and blue trimmings—slid into view in the sea below her, chasing after a Galbadian cruiser. The two vessels exchanged gunfire, with crewmembers on both decks collapsing and dying in the bullets and explosions. A stray rocket fired from the Galbadian deck and struck somewhere on Garden, making the whole frame of the school shake.
All around, Galbadian ships were still circling, fighting back against their Esthar counterparts and refusing to yield the sea they had claimed. Quistis realized that she and the rest of Garden were caught in this crossfire of this battle, with no way of defending themselves. Their best choice, she knew, was to back away from the fighting and save themselves. Recover their strength and then rejoin the battle.
She approached the giant white control column, sticking out of the base of the bridge like a fang. She had never been trained on how to pilot Garden, but she had watched Nida do it enough times to have a fair grasp as to how it worked.
(And there's no time to call someone else to do it for me.)
After Galbadia fled—with Esthar in pursuit—Quistis had been left totally alone up on the bridge. It would take several minutes for her to call Nida or someone else to assume control of Garden, and in the meantime the battle between Esthar and Galbadia was still raging. Though the battle was basically won, Garden could easily take collateral damage during the last, vengeful efforts of the G-Navy.
She put her hands on the control column, feeling its smooth surface. As she had seen Nida do before, she pushed gently forward on the column to gather momentum, then yanked hard backwards, throwing her head and her shoulders back with the effort.
Something deep within Garden groaned as the engines reversed direction and the floor beneath her shifted. Soon Garden was pulling away, and the Galbadian ships below her drew further and further into the distance. As she continued on in reverse, she sped deeper and deeper into the ranks of the Esthar ships, until Garden was all but surrounded by the foreign military's vessels.
She kept going long after Garden was out of danger. She knew that she would eventually have to stop. That she would have to release the control column and go down below to Garden's first floor. But she had no way of knowing what had happened down there. Once she had given the order for Garden to fight back, what had happened? The possible answer to the question worried her, made her reluctant to find out.
(I shouldn't have ordered them to fight.)
In the excitement of the moment, she had made the announcement over the intercom that Esthar had arrived and that SeeD should fight back against Galbadia. But had that been wise? After all, SeeD had been beaten. The students had been stripped of their weapons and basically captured. The Galbadians were armed and ready; was that really the best time for a counterattack? Maybe it would have been smarter if Quistis had waited, allowed time for the Galbadians to divide their forces and their attention.
(Am I always going to doubt every decision I make?)
She sighed. Whatever had happened, she couldn't change it now. Whether or not it was a wise decision, she had given the order. Now there was nothing left to do but go down below and assess the aftermath. Had SeeD won the battle? Galbadia had retreated, and she assumed that they had retreated from the first floor as well. Martine wouldn't leave a group of his soldiers stranded within Garden unless he controlled the school.
Or would he? Quistis didn't know anymore. Martine had revealed that he had a capacity for cruelty and heartlessness that she had never seen in him before. Perhaps he might have simply retreated, leaving a significant portion of his soldiers behind to die or be captured.
Or worse, what if he had deliberately left them behind, with the intent of making them cause as much damage to Garden as possible, in the hopes of weakening them before another battle? Now that Quistis' mind was running along that track, she continued on and wondered if Galbadia had already defeated the SeeDs below and was currently on their way up to the bridge, to seize control of the school and pilot it after the Galbadians.
(I'm letting my imagination get carried away.)
Just then, a crushing explosion rocked the entire school. Quistis was thrown bodily against the control column. She wrapped both arms around it to keep from falling down—and perhaps falling off the bridge and plummeting down to Cid's office below.
The explosion had been absolutely staggering. None of the Galbadian missiles—or any type of attack Quistis could ever remember—had so violently shaken the school. Suddenly her fear that the Galbadians might try to kamikaze SeeD weren't so far-fetched.
(I can't wait any more.)
(I must see what's happened.)
She released the control column, and it slid back into its neutral position. She could feel Garden drifting to a stop beneath her. She stepped to the back of the bridge and stood upon the small lift. It activated under her weight and lowered her down to Cid's office. She tried not to look at the scorch marks, bullet holes, and bodies strewn on either side of the room. She tried not to imagine what scene would be waiting for her when she stepped into the elevator and looked below in the main room of Garden.
She crossed Cid's office, broken glass and metal crunching beneath her boots. She breathed deeply, slowly, adopting a stern mask of authority on her face. Whatever was waiting for her, she needed to be ready for it. She needed to be strong.
No one had called the elevator since Quistis had last used it, so the cab was still waiting for her at the third floor. The door slid open at her approach and she stepped inside, pushing the button for the first floor and taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.
(I can't hear any fighting.)
(Maybe that's a good thing.)
The elevator jerked into motion and she descended down. She opened her eyes and looked out through the glass doors at the Garden below her.
Starting at her far left, near the library and the training center, was a trail of fallen Galbadian soldiers, their unmistakable bright blue and red uniforms standing out clearly against the earthy tones of Garden's floor. Scattered amongst their bodies were burn marks, bullet holes, and what appeared to be patches of ice and snow.
In front of her, directly below her feet, two large clusters of students stood eyeing each other down warily. Quistis heart jumped with relief when she saw how many students were still alive, ignoring the obvious tension in their stances and in their behavior.
(They made it…)
Quistis took a breath and held one hand against her chest.
She turned and looked to the right—the elevator now passing the second floor, making her lose her high vantage point—and saw a cluster of students running down the hall to the quad. They were stepping over the bodies of fallen Galbadian soldiers. The rest of the students near the front gate stood watching them go.
Quistis frowned.
(Where are they going?)
(Is it something to do with the explosion?)
In retrospect, it did feel like the explosion had come from the general area of the quad. Had the Galbadians left behind a massive bomb of some kind? Or had a stray missile come down and hit the school? Quistis didn't know, but she needed to find out.
Further on was another cluster of SeeDs—the wounded and those tending to the wounded near the infirmary. Quistis was glad to see a high level of organization and efficiency when it came to tending to the injured students.
The elevator arrived at the first floor with a soft chime. As soon as the students heard the elevator arrive, everyone turned and looked. Quistis felt the weight of dozens of eyes landing upon her. She was glad that she had already taken a moment to compose herself and get her breathing under control.
(Here we go.)
(Time to play the role of leader.)
She stepped out of the elevator swiftly and confidently, paying special attention to keep her chin up and her eyes forward. She hoped that she appeared strong and authoritative.
She stopped at the top of the steps and looked down at the two clusters of students gathered below her.
"What's happened?" she asked. "Where are those SeeDs going?"
"There was an explosion," one SeeD from the cluster of students on the right said.
"Mireya and some of her bunch went to check it out," a student from the left said.
Quistis had to fight to keep her lip from curling at the mention of that name.
(… Mireya.)
She turned back to the others. "Everyone should tend to the wounded. Get as many people as you can into the infirmary and do everything Dr. Kadowaki instructs you to."
Most of the SeeDs from the left immediately jumped to respond, moving across the school towards the infirmary. But others were slow to react to her order. Instead of rushing to respond, they glanced at each other, as if waiting for permission from their peers before obeying an order from their superior officer.
(It's Mireya's influence.)
(Making them insubordinate.)
"Do it now," Quistis said sternly.
This second order got all the students in motion, even the most reluctant ones. Soon the two clusters that had been gathered were all but gone, now moving as one loose unit towards the infirmary.
Quistis still wasn't sure how she wanted to handle the situation with Mireya. She wanted to rush into the quad after her and find out what had happened. But on the other hand, there were still things that needed to be taken care of in the school. Additionally, the quad might still be dangerous. Whatever had caused the explosion could happen again, or Galbadia could have prepared a second attack to take out SeeD's rescue squad.
(But if another explosion came and wiped out Mireya and her allies…)
(… Well, that would solve a lot of problems.)
She shook her head, ashamed to even be having such thoughts. What would Headmaster Cid say if he knew that she was secretly wishing for the death of a member of SeeD, even if that person was Mireya?
(Speaking of…)
Quistis' radio was still attached to her belt. The Galbadians had confiscated her whip, but hadn't bothered with the radio. She unclipped it and brought it to her mouth.
"Headmaster, do you read?" she asked.
"We're here," he said promptly. "I heard an explosion and then everything went quiet upstairs. Is everything alright?"
"We're in the process of finding that out, Headmaster," Quistis said. "Galbadia has been sent into retreat for the moment, and it appears that most of SeeD has survived. We've got a lot of wounded, though. Dr. Kadowaki is going to be busy."
"That's about the best news we could expect," Cid said. "Obviously, I would have preferred it if you'd said that Galbadia had offered their unconditional terms of surrender and not a single SeeD suffered so much as a paper cut, but I suppose I must take what I can get."
"Stay where you are for now, Headmaster," Quistis said. "We don't know what caused the explosion and Galbadia might return for a second engagement at any time."
"We'll be here if you need us," Cid said.
From the corner of her eye, Quistis spotted sudden movement. She turned and looked, and saw Nida and Xu rushing from the infirmary. Nida had white bandages wrapped around his head like a bandanna, and Xu had a gauze eyepatch. They both pushed their way through the SeeDs heading to and from the infirmary, then rushed down the hall and up the stairs to meet with Quistis.
"Are you two alright?" Quistis asked.
"Fine, fine," Xu said. "We were hauling some wounded SeeDs to the infirmary and Dr. K insisted that we get some bandages too. Honestly, I don't even need this thing." She reached up and began peeling off her gauze eye patch.
"No, leave it for now," Quistis said. "What's going on?"
"Commander, Mireya has lost her mind," Nida said, stepping forward. "Right after we cleared out all the Galbadians, she ordered her cronies to capture Selphie and Rinoa."
Quistis was taken aback.
"Did she attack them?" Quistis asked.
Nida and Xu nodded.
"It was civil war down here for a while," Xu said. "But then Selphie went crazy and started attacking everyone. Then she ran off down into the quad, with Squall, Rinoa, Irvine, and Zell chasing after her. Then there was an explosion, and Mireya went to check out what had happened."
"What?" Quistis said.
"I don't know for sure," Xu said, "But it sounds like your description of what happened with Edea and Ultimecia. Suddenly Selphie just… became someone else and attacked."
"And they all went off to the quad?" Quistis asked. Xu and Nida nodded. "Was this before or after the explosion?"
"Commander Squall, Rinoa, Zell, and Irvine went to the quad chasing after Selphie," Xu said. "A few minutes later was the explosion, and Mireya and the others went in after that."
"I see," Quistis said.
Her mind raced, trying to piece together the fragments of information and create a single narrative. Mireya had started a coup—which didn't surprise Quistis, although she was shocked that Mireya chose now of all times for her uprising—Selphie had possibly been taken over by Ultimecia, and a massive explosion had rocked the school. The fates of her friends were still in question.
(I need to be careful.)
(Mireya is still a threat, and if Ultimecia has truly returned, then I must beware of that as well.)
As if Quistis' job wasn't hard enough, now suddenly she had all these new factors to contend with.
"Is Mireya still going through with her coup attempt?" Quistis asked.
"I'd assume so," Xu said. "But Selphie's attack—or Ultimecia's attack, whichever—paused the fighting for a bit. Containing Selphie became everyone's top priority, but now, depending on what's happened in the quad, the fighting could start up again. We have to be careful."
"Right," Quistis said.
(So that's why the students were divided into two groups.)
(Those fighting for Mireya, and those fighting for Garden.)
It was disheartening to find that both groups were almost the same size. Quistis wondered how Mireya had managed to gather together enough people willing to openly fight against in such a short period of time. Was Mireya just that skilled at winning people to her side, or was Quistis so inept at leadership that she naturally drove people to side against her?
She shook her head.
(I can't keep beating myself up.)
"First, we have to go find out what's going on in the quad," Quistis said. "Follow me."
The quad was the most important place in Garden at the moment. Finding out what had triggered the explosion—and if it could happen again—was a high priority. Additionally, Quistis needed to find out if Mireya was going to continue fighting to overthrow SeeD's government. And lastly, Quistis had to find out the status of her friends. What had happened to them after the explosion?
As they ran, Quistis spotted one or two of the SeeDs that she recognized to be part of her fanclub, the Trepies.
"Hey, Trepies!" she yelled. They looked up at her, and brightened when they realized that she was talking to them. "Follow me!"
They eagerly broke off from the rest of the group and tagged along behind Nida and Xu. All in all, Quistis was heading to the quad with a little more than a half dozen people. It wasn't as many as Mireya had taken with her to the quad, but if Squall and the others were still alive then Quistis assumed the numbers should even out if things became violent.
In any case, there wasn't time to organize a better party. Especially not now, with many SeeDs having chosen to side with Mireya. She would have to first find out which SeeDs were loyal to her, and then divide them from the pack and bring them along. Doing that would take time, and likely result in increasing the friction between the two groups.
(Right now, everyone's focused on protecting the wounded.)
(If I can keep it that way, I have a chance of keeping the fighting from reigniting.)
The Trepies, however, she knew immediately were loyal, so it was a simple matter to bring them along for additional support.
She jogged down the steps with Xu, Nida, and members of the Trepies right behind her. Even though Quistis had told her not to, Xu peeled off her gauze eye patch and tossed it into a garbage can along the way. Quistis frowned, but didn't say anything. Beneath where Xu's eye patch had been, her eye was swollen and blackened. It looked painful, but Xu didn't seem to notice much.
As they entered the hallway to the quad, Quistis slowed to a walk. Whatever lay ahead, Quistis didn't want to rush into it unprepared. The others slowed down behind her, and together they walked towards the sunlight pouring in at the end of the hall. Quistis heard—or thought she heard—whispering coming from the end of the hall. She narrowed her eyes and approached.
She stepped out of the hallway and stood atop the steps leading down into the quad. Or, at least, what remained of the quad. The stairs continued downwards for a short ways— cracked and burned and covered in debris—before ending in a sheer cliff of destruction leading straight down into the ocean.
Quistis looked out to sea, just in time to watch as the White SeeD ship pulled away, raising its large fin-shaped sails and cruising off to the south.
(What are they doing here?)
"Now!" someone said.
Quistis flinched in surprise and turned her head just in time to see a large, heavy fist rushing at her face. She bent away from the strike and tried to raise her hands defensively, but the blow connected squarely with her jaw, sending bright lights shooting across her vision.
Quistis felt the ground rush up to meet her, and everything after that was just a blur.
She didn't remember being asleep. Her body didn't register a long passage of time, like it normally did after a night's rest. For Quistis, it felt like she had only closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them up again to find herself staring at the ceiling of Garden's basement, with a shattering headache fracturing her brain and her thoughts. She was aware of a throbbing on her jaw, but this was the lesser of the two pains, and easier to manage.
"Good, you're awake," Headmaster Cid said.
Quistis rose up on her elbows, her legs stretched out before her. She glanced around and saw Headmaster Cid kneeling beside her. Edea was standing behind him, looking concerned. Nida and Xu were stretched out alongside Quistis like rows of cordwood. Nida had deep cuts and bruises along his face, and Xu didn't look much better. Her hands were torn and bloody, as if she'd been fighting desperately. Neither of them moved.
"Are they…" Quistis asked, looking worriedly at Cid.
"They're alive," Cid said. "But they took quite a beating first. In a way, it was lucky that you fell unconscious immediately. It spared you their fate."
Quistis scowled.
(Lucky?)
"If I was lucky, I would have been able to fight at their side," Quistis said. "Or better yet, I would have suspected a trap immediately and never walked blindly into it. I'm such an impossible fool."
Quistis drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, staring forward into the distance. They weren't alone in the basement. The Trepies that Quistis had recruited for the trip to the quad were there as well, beaten up but alive, standing a distance away from Quistis and the others. There were also the underclassmen too young to be trusted on the front lines, and those nursing long-term injuries but who were still mobile enough to not need to stay in the infirmary. They shuffled around the basement quietly. Even the children were unusually still, as if they had done something wrong and felt embarrassed.
(The only one in the wrong here is me.)
"You couldn't have predicted that Mireya would have laid a trap," Cid said soothingly.
But Quistis wanted none of his comfort. "Couldn't I? I had just been warned—moments earlier—that she had tried to stage a coup. I should have assumed she was hostile and dangerous, but I was too caught up in what had happened to Squall and the others to think clearly."
Headmaster Cid looked at her with his brown, fatherly eyes. "You were concerned about your friends, and you view that as a weakness?"
Quistis shook her head. "No. No, that came out wrong. I meant to say that I failed to be concerned for my friends and watchful for danger at the same time. My shortsightedness got the better of me."
"We all make mistakes—"
"I have made too many!" Quistis snapped. She felt the eyes of the others in the basement fall upon her. She sighed and calmed herself. "I'm sorry. Do you know what's been happening?"
"We heard the story from a couple of your fans," Edea said. Cid nodded.
"The Trepies?"
Quistis looked at the handful of SeeDs, still wearing their uniforms, at the far end of the room. They noticed Quistis' gaze and waved at her. Quistis nodded back.
"We told them to give you some space," Edea said. "We could invite them over if you'd like."
"No," Quistis said. "They can stay there for now."
(How could I face them now?)
(What would I say to them?)
(… I don't deserve fans.)
"Well, anyway," Cid said. "They told us the story of what happened after Mireya attacked you. Apparently, Mireya's group carried you back into the main hall and declared that they had officially assumed control over SeeD."
"And was there more fighting after that?" Quistis asked. She couldn't imagine that all the other SeeDs would just stand by and allow Mireya to take over the school. Surely there had to have been some resistance, when the students saw Mireya dragging along the unconscious body of Garden's Lieutenant Commander.
To her surprise, Cid shrugged. "Some. A few of the more loyal SeeDs fought back. But most students chose to stay out of the battle, allowing Mireya and her followers to easily outmatch those who chose to fight. You and the dissidents were subdued, put on the elevator, and sent down here. From what I'm told, Mireya has taken your key to the elevator, which keeps us from simply riding them back up to the top."
Quistis' eyes snapped open, and her hand shot into her pocket. She found nothing there. She checked her other pockets and found them empty as well. That key was critical; it could be used to gain access to the MD levels or—as Mireya had done—it could completely shut down the elevator altogether.
(How did she know I had it?)
(Someone must have seen me use it during the battle.)
"And most students chose not to fight?" Quistis asked. "Two decades of stability in Garden thrown out the window because of Mireya and her insurrectionists, and the majority chose to let it happen?"
Cid took a deep breath. "I don't think it's like that. It's my honest belief that most of the students in the school were just tired of fighting each other. It's not what they were trained to do, and it's not what they want to do. So when Mireya came and presented your body—unconscious, defeated—it was simpler to just go along with it. After all, Galbadia is still out there somewhere, and there is likely to be more fighting in the future. It's the most logical and pragmatic decision—for all the SeeDs to unite under one banner, even if that banner is Mireya's."
"Prolonged in-fighting would just weaken Garden overall," Edea added. "We need all of our strength focused on external threats, like Galbadia and Ultimecia."
(This is lunacy.)
"So then what should I do?" Quistis asked.
"Perhaps it's best to sit this one out," Cid said. "You're exhausted, SeeD's exhausted, and we need to survive the next few hours and days if we're to stand any chance of living to see peaceful times ever again."
(Sit this one out?)
(And let Mireya just have SeeD?)
A few days ago, Quistis might have stepped aside and allowed Mireya to have the Commander position. Quistis didn't really want to lead, all her decisions were coming to bad ends, and Mireya seemed eager to take control. At the time she had thought, why not? Allow the eager young girl to take control of Garden and see if she does any better.
But recently, Quistis had begun to uncover more and more of Mireya's personality, her disposition, and her views. And she was coming to not only dislike and distrust Mireya, but almost beginning to actively hate her. Mireya's ideas about Garden, sorceresses, and the purpose of SeeD were poisonous to the school, and to the future of the organization. Sitting around idly and allowing Mireya to control Garden without fighting back was—in Quistis' mind—the same as stepping down and handing over school to her. It was practically an endorsement of Mireya's twisted worldview, a tacit admission that maybe sorceresses were inherently evil, that maybe Garden's purpose was to destroy all sorceresses.
(Not fighting her is akin to saying that our opinions aren't worth fighting for.)
Beside her, Xu groaned and turned over on her side.
"You awake, Xu?" Quistis asked. Xu muttered something incoherent, then slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. Quistis was able to get a better view of her friend, and the condition she was in.
Xu still had the black eye from before, only now it had swollen up to the point where it almost sealed her eye shut. There was a deep cut going across her lips, and a discoloration along her jawline. Her clothes were ripped and tousled, and probably hid a network of cuts and scars beneath them. Quistis winced.
"Here, let me heal you," Quistis said. Xu raised up an arm to fend her off, but Quistis grabbed her wrist and set Xu's hand down, out of the way. With her other hand, she reached out and touched Xu's face, pouring in some of her magic.
The swelling reduced, the cuts scabbed over, and Xu became visibly more alert and focused. When Xu was able to fully open both eyes again, Quistis stopped using her magic. She didn't know how long it would be before she would find a chance to restock her magic, and she didn't want to waste all her cure spells right away—not while SeeD's future was still uncertain.
"Thanks, Q," Xu said softly.
"Is there anywhere else that needs to be healed?" Quistis asked. "Any broken bones or anything that I missed?"
"No, I'm fine," Xu said. She sat up beside Quistis. "So… tell me something."
"What is it?"
"Are we gonna hang Mireya or burn her at the stake?" Xu asked. "Personally, I've always been a fan of the old fashioned drawing and quartering. We can take four cars and—"
"We will not be executing students, Xu!" Headmaster Cid said, getting to his feet. "Even students like Mireya have—"
Xu smirked mirthlessly. "It was a joke, Headmaster. I don't wanna kill her… yet."
"But we do need to do something about her," Quistis said. "We can't just leave things as they are."
"Are they upstairs or something?" Xu asked. She looked up at the ceiling.
"Yes," Quistis said.
"Maybe we can go up there," Xu said. "Think of a plan and maybe—"
Quistis shook her head. "They took my elevator key and locked the elevator. There's no other way up."
Xu raised an eyebrow. "Really? The elevator is the only way out of the basement? Seems like a fire hazard."
Headmaster Cid shook his head. "Don't blame me. I didn't build this place. Admittedly, there are a lot of structural features to Garden that pose safety hazards. But remember, it was originally built as a shelter, not a school, so we can't fault the designers either."
"Yeah, I was just griping," Xu said. She paused for a moment and thought. "What about T-Garden and White SeeD? I doubt that they're on Mireya's side. If we can get to them…"
"How?" Quistis asked. "We're trapped down here."
"But it's something to shoot for," Xu said. "Better than just curling up in a ball and waiting for Mireya to have mercy on us."
On the other side of Xu, Nida began to stir. When he rose back into consciousness, Quistis healed him and checked on his condition. He seemed to be in better shape than Xu, and required less attention before he too was joining in on the conversation.
"What about the MD levels?" Nida asked. "It's connected to the basement by a ladder in the elevator shaft. We can go down there and mess with Garden's operations and basically hold the school hostage."
Quistis shook her head. "No. Garden needs its mobility if we're going to survive another battle with Galbadia. If the G-Navy attacks us while the operations are down, we'll be easy targets. It isn't worth it to topple Mireya if it leads to all of Garden being destroyed or taken over by Galbadia. "
"Maybe we can climb up the elevator shaft?" Xu said. "If there's a ladder that goes down, then maybe it goes up as well? And if there isn't one maybe we can rig something up."
"Perhaps," Quistis said. "But what would we do when we arrive at the top?"
"Hopefully Mireya won't have bothered posting guards on the elevator," Xu said. "If she hasn't then once we get back into the school, we can plan a counterattack."
"I have to interject here," Cid said, moving forward, "Before this goes any further. I can't foresee a situation where sneaking up to the upper levels won't just reignite the fighting in Garden."
"We might not have a choice, Headmaster," Xu said. "Mireya can't be left in charge of Garden, and it's not like we can just ask her politely to step down."
"More fighting will leave us vulnerable to the Galbadians," Cid said. "As I suggested to Quistis, perhaps it's best leaving our plans for revenge until after the immediate situation is resolved."
"But how long would that be?" Xu asked. "How long do we have to sit here in the basement while Mireya calls all the shots? When is there going to be a time where SeeD isn't in danger, where SeeD can afford to have a civil war? It's always going to be a bad time for this, but it has to get done eventually. We're better off doing it now, before Mireya gets settled."
Cid closed his eyes slowly, and then nodded. "I see your point. But SeeD is currently facing one of the worst threats to its existence. Never before has the might of the Galbadian army been thrown directly at us with the intention of taking control of Garden. This is one of the darkest times I've ever seen, and I cannot condone any plans that would create further in-fighting amongst our students."
"Mireya's the problem," Xu said. "She's the ringleader in all this. If we can get to her—and get to her quickly—we can stop all this fighting and get the proper people back in charge with a minimum of bloodshed. Most students aren't interested in fighting in this civil war. So it's just between us and her."
"Ideally, yes," Cid said. "But it's an awful risk to take."
"You've taken risks before, Headmaster" Xu said.
"True," Cid said. He turned to Quistis. "I leave the decision up to you. This is not an administrative matter. This concerns whether or not SeeD –or whatever is left of SeeD—will fight a battle. That means it falls under the jurisdiction of the Commander. Which is you, Quistis."
Quistis looked up at him.
(Passing your problems on to me again?)
She sighed.
(No… this is my problem.)
(I should be the one to solve it.)
"I need some time to think," she said. "Some time alone."
Cid smirked and gestured around himself. "There aren't many places where you can be alone down here."
The basement was fairly small—at least by the standards of the rest of the school. There were no private areas, except for the bathrooms tucked away in a corner of the basement, and everywhere else there were children running around. True, Quistis couldn't possibly be truly alone here, but she still wanted to be as alone as possible while she sorted out her thoughts. She was beginning to understand Squall's reticent nature, his love of solitude. Sometimes it was easier to concentrate without a group of people constantly offering their input, their perspectives.
"Excuse me," Quistis said.
She rose to her feet, turned, and headed for the stairs to the elevator. She ascended a few steps and then sat down, using the steps as a chair. She put her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her folded hands, staring sightlessly at the opposite wall. It wasn't very secluded there, and she was visible to anyone who cared to look, but it afforded her a wide space around where no one was likely to come near her. It was the best she could manage at the time.
(What should I do?)
Quistis could see both sides of the argument, and she wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse. She shared Xu's eagerness to fight back, to defeat Mireya and regain control of the school. She also shared the Headmaster's fear about further bloodshed, and weakening Garden in the prelude before another Galbadian attack.
Both sides were legitimate, and both sides had made strong arguments.
(And now it falls on me to decide.)
Whatever the case, Quistis knew that she would never take leadership for granted ever again. She had always assumed that leadership roles were simply the next step up in a linear progression towards ever growing power and responsibility.
But now she had learned that there was a massive gap between those who led and those who followed. It was not a continuous, solid line from one to the other. And those who had never led other students into battle before couldn't possibly understand the struggles of those who had.
(Maybe Mireya will learn now.)
(Now that she's the one in charge of the school.)
That was another possibility that Quistis hadn't considered. Maybe she could just sit back and allow Mireya to hang herself. Undoubtedly Mireya would make mistakes—Quistis had learned that it was nearly impossible to lead SeeD without committing errors. And then once her loyal subjects had seen that Mireya was as mortal as everyone else, perhaps then they would be less eager to fight by her side.
(So I should take the Headmaster's side?)
(Stand by and wait for the best opportunity to strike?)
But that plan would take a very long time to unfold. Mireya would have to be left in charge for the entire duration of the battle with Galbadia, then the situation in Garden would have to settle down, and Mireya would have to continue to make errors throughout this whole period, enough mistakes so that the majority of the students would lose faith in her. It was a long waiting game, and there was no guarantee that it would pan out.
(What if Mireya is actually a great leader?)
That thought disturbed Quistis. Mireya had already proven herself to be skilled at assembling a core group of loyal soldiers and then leading them into battle and overthrowing the leadership of SeeD. Perhaps her cunning and her skills could then be applied towards the continued rule of the school.
And then there was always the chance that Mireya would simply force everyone to obey her. Now that she had control of the school, she could consolidate power and make it impossible for anyone to ever overthrow her. Cid had always led SeeD with a fairly light hand, but Mireya could very easily produce a list of rules that everyone had to follow, create strict guidelines, and restructure SeeD from the inside. Now that she had the power, there wasn't anything to stop her.
(And, knowing what I know of Mireya, she might very well do that.)
Suddenly Quistis found herself unwilling to side with Headmaster Cid. Mireya was too dangerous to leave in charge of the school. Given enough time and resources, she could continually strengthen her rule until neither Quistis nor Cid nor anyone else could ever replace her. And then what would happen? Quistis shuddered to think of that future.
(We have to strike back.)
(And we have to do it soon.)
Just then, the intercom chimed. Mireya's voice came over the speakers. It irked Quistis to hear her issuing orders.
"All students, move to new defensive positions," she said. Quistis frowned.
(New defensive positions?)
That wasn't one of the standard formations that they had drawn up earlier. Had Mireya already crafted new battle plans and taught them to the students? If so, then that was truly worrying. Less than a half an hour after seizing power, Mireya was already creating strategies and ordering around the students. Quistis' resolve hardened.
(We have to stop her before this goes any further.)
Mireya's voice continued. "Attack any outsiders with extreme prejudice. Absolutely no one has been granted permission to enter the school."
The intercom chimed again, and shut off. Quistis looked up at the speaker embedded in the ceiling and thought to herself.
(That's a stranger order…)
"Galbadia's here already!?" Nida shouted, pulling at his hair. "It's barely been a half an hour!"
"I guess this is it," Xu said. "Here's where we find out if Mireya is as great a Commander as she thinks she is. And if she's wrong…" Xu shrugged and let the rest of the thought go unspoken.
"I don't think it's Galbadia," Quistis said, standing up. She descended the steps and returned to Xu, Nida, and the Headmaster. "Her orders were too specific."
"What do you mean, Commander?" Nida asked.
"If it was Galbadia, she would have just ordered everyone to their battle stations," Quistis said. "But she went on to say that no one has been granted permission to enter the school. That implies that someone other than Galbadia is trying to get in."
"Who?" Xu asked.
Quistis shrugged. "No way of knowing. Maybe White SeeD. Maybe T-Garden or Esthar. Maybe Squall and the others. But it's almost definitely not Galbadia."
"So… then…" Nida said. He scrunched up his face in thought.
"If it's not Galbadia, then we must attack now," Quistis said. "Anyone fighting against Mireya is our ally, as far as I'm concerned."
"If a third party is involved," Cid said. "Then that will almost guarantee more bloodshed."
"All the more reason for us to get involved," Quistis said. "Mireya will fight to the death to protect herself. But if we topple her now, we can negotiate with whoever's trying to get in. We can stop the fighting. But if we stay here and do nothing, then Mireya will keep fighting until either the outsiders leave or until SeeD is destroyed."
"I don't think she'd go that far," Edea said softly.
Quistis looked at her. "I've underestimated her too many times now. From now on, I'm going to assume that she will stop at nothing and then work my way from there."
"So what are we gonna do?" Xu asked. "You thought of a plan?"
"I think so," Quistis said. "Follow me."
She turned around and headed for the far side of the basement. Xu and Nida hesitated a moment, but they were drawn in by Quistis' confidence, and they followed behind her, silent but excited. After a few seconds, it became obvious that Quistis was heading straight for NORG's pod, which still remained in its usual spot in the corner of the basement.
"You're… going to use NORG's pod?" Xu asked. "How?"
"I don't know yet," Quistis said. She stopped outside the massive dome-shaped carapace that formed the outer shield of the device. She ran one gloved hand along its smooth surface, tracing along the ornate designs painted on it.
"Then how do you know it'll work?" Xu asked. "Squall and the others busted it up pretty good last I heard."
"They forced it to open," Quistis said. "And then once it was open, they killed NORG. The pod itself should still be operable."
"Commander," Nida said. "I don't wanna speak out of turn or anything, but the tech team has combed over NORG's pod a dozen times. They don't know how to open it."
"There must be a way," Quistis said, still walking along the exterior of the shell, looking for weaknesses. "You don't think that NORG would risk locking himself out of his own pod, would you?"
"Maybe it locks from the inside," Xu said. "And can't be opened from the outside. If he's the only one who ever used it, then that's a good way to keep it safe."
"But there's no one inside at the moment to lock it," Quistis said. "So there must be a way in."
Xu frowned and looked skeptical, but didn't continue her argument. After a few seconds, she shrugged and began searching along the exterior of the pod as well.
Above them, the sounds of battle began. Quistis could hear gunshots and magic. The battle didn't seem to be as loud as Quistis remembered the Galbadian battle being—which lent credence to the idea that they weren't fighting Galbadia, but someone else instead. Or maybe the noises were muffled by the basement.
(Either way, we don't have much time.)
Quistis racked her brain. Was there a secret switch of some kind? No, if there was, the tech team would have certainly found it by now. It couldn't be something that obvious. But it had to still be something easy, or else it would be too hard for NORG to gain access to his pod.
(Maybe he had a key?)
But then there would be a keyhole somewhere or some kind of terminal for a keycard to be read. And the tech team had reported nothing of the sort. The outer shell was completely armored, with no visible access points or weaknesses.
And then it hit her. Not necessarily how NORG accessed his pod, but how she could access it.
"It's like a turtle shell," Quistis said.
"Excuse me?" Xu asked, looking over at Quistis.
"There are no visible access points right now," Quistis said. "But that's because the tech team never tried anything like this."
She raised her hand and summoned a brown sphere of earth magic. The spell was meant to be used on dirt and stone, but could be applied on metal as well. Quistis finished gathering the spell, then fired it down into the ground, rumbling the basement and leaving a deep, concave dent in the floor. The dent was deep enough for Quistis to crawl under the bottom lip of the shell and approach the pod from below.
Xu looked impressed. "Nice," she said. "But now how are you gonna pilot it?"
"I guess I'll see when I get there," Quistis said.
Quistis got to her hands and knees, then flattened herself out on her chest. She poked her head under the metal exterior of the pod—which was almost as thick as Quistis' forearm was long—and pushed herself underneath, squirming her shoulders and then her hips into the dent. Above her, she could see the inner workings of NORG's pod, illuminated by a dim blue ambient light.
She crawled up through the machinery—through metal girders and tangled knots of wires. Fortunately she didn't suffer from a fear of tight spaces, because she had to completely wedge herself from head to foot in the cramped machinery to advance.
Unlike Squall, Rinoa, and Zell, Quistis had never seen the interior of the pod before, so she didn't quite grasp how the inside was laid out. She assumed that there was some sort of pilot's chair situated near the middle, so she focused to keep her bearings and worked toward what she assumed was the center of the pod.
After a few seconds of crawling and grunting and banging her shins and elbows on pieces of metal, Quistis emerged into an open area, dominated by a large chair two sizes too big for Quistis or any other human. Quistis pried herself out of the machinery—covered in grease and dirt but feeling triumphant—and sat down in the oversized chair.
The chair swallowed her completely; she would have to reach out both arms as far as they would go in order to touch both armrests at once, and if she leaned her shoulders against the backrest, she couldn't put her feet on the floor. Seeing that there were pedals on the floor, Quistis stayed on the edge of the seat so she could reach them if needed.
In front of her was an array of panels, control sticks, keypads, and gauges. The controls—like the chair—were oversized, designed for a body and hands that were almost twice Quistis' size. The touch screens were black at the moment, and had greasy Shumi-sized fingerprints smeared across the screens. The whole interior stank of moldy food. Quistis tried to ignore the smell and focus on her objective.
(Now… how to start it?)
"You okay in there?" Xu shouted through the hole that Quistis had created.
"Yeah," Quistis said. "Just examining the controls."
As Quistis looked at the blank display panels, the series of buttons, and the levers and switches and gauges, she realized that everything was oddly familiar. The shapes of the control panels, the faint blue light that glowed from the edges of some of the devices.
(This is Esthar's design.)
Once she had the thought, she knew it must be true. This pod had surely been designed by Esthar, and bore all the markings and similarities to their designs. Quistis wasn't an expert on Esthar or their technology, but she had learned a little from her time aboard the Ragnarok, and as she looked over the controls, she saw a number of similarities between the Ragnarok's controls and NORG's pod.
(If it's anything like the Ragnarok…)
(… Then this should turn it on.)
She flicked a series of switches, charging up the pod's batteries, then pushed an oversized red button in front of her. There was a loud click, and all the interior lights came on, forcing Quistis to squint in the sudden brightness. The display panels came to life, and the interior walls of the pod turned transparent, allowing Quistis to see out into the basement again. She saw Cid and Edea standing off to the side, watching with curiosity. Nida and Xu were right in front of her, gazing around but unable to see through the pod. The underclassmen were gathered around, watching with curiosity.
(I can do this.)
"What's going on?" Xu asked. Microphones embedded in the pod's carapace transmitted Xu's voice and repeated it over speakers in the pod, making it sound like Xu was right beside her.
Instead of shouting back through the hole, Quistis searched and found a button on the control panel that she assumed was the speaker. She held it down and spoke.
"Can you hear me?" she asked. Her voice echoed and boomed through the small basement, startling her and several underclassmen. They jumped in panic and ran to Edea, who sheltered them under her arms like a mother bird.
"We hear you, Commander," Nida said, grinning widely. "This is great! We'll be able to defend the basement at least, if anyone tries to come down here."
"No," Quistis said, speaking into the microphone again. "I think the pod can move."
Nida frowned and looked at the pod. "Doesn't look like it can move, Commander."
"Think about it," Quistis said. "Why would NORG spend all this money to build a pod that can't leave the basement? He would want the ability to flee if the worst case scenario happened. If I can just figure out how to move it…"
She began experimentally pressing buttons, but every action she took produced a low buzzing noise from one of the panels. She turned to the panel and read its display. Written in bold red letters were the words, "Auto-Repair Sequence, 97% completed," along with a progress bar. She tapped on the display, which brought up the prompt, "Cancel Auto-Repair? Yes or no."
She tapped the "Yes" icon, and the panel showed the words, "Repair sequence canceled. Reverting to manual control."
(That ought to do it.)
Quistis found a pair of joysticks in front of her. Each was as thick around as her wrist—easy for a large Shumi to grip, but a little unwieldy for her small hands. She leaned forward and grasped both joysticks and pulled back. Nothing happened at first, until Quistis remembered the pedals at her feet. She depressed the one that would correspond to the accelerator on a car.
To her surprise—and delight—the pod shot up waist-high off the ground, suspended by the same Esthar technology that allowed their cars and their transportation platforms to hover. The pod even produced the same high pitching humming noise and emitted a blue glow underneath it.
(Yes, this is definitely Esthar-made.)
The students in the basement leapt back, startled and amazed. With some experimental movements, Quistis discovered how the two joysticks worked in tandem to control the pods tilt, angle, and height from the ground. The pedals controlled the speed and acceleration, and Quistis found the controls to be intuitive and simple.
(Pretty much the same as piloting the Ragnarok.)
Quistis maneuvered the hulking machine for several seconds, getting the feel for its operation, its tendencies. When she felt confident about the basic controls, she experimented with the other buttons.
(Squall said that this thing could cast magic.)
The pod defended itself with two large orbs near the front that could charge up and cast para-magic spells. After some searching, Quistis found a display panel that showed the amount of energy left in each orb. She was glad to see that both were still well over seventy-five percent full.
(Now to test it.)
"Everyone stand back," Quistis said. "I'm going to try to cast a spell."
The underclassmen moved back, and Edea rushed forward to shepherd them all to the far side of the room. Nida and Xu went back to join them, leaving a good distance between themselves and the pod. Just to be safe, Quistis turned the pod to face the wall.
Then she found a pair of buttons, which she assumed operated the left and the right orbs. She pushed the button for the left orb and the display on a monitor asked her what kind of magic she wanted. There weren't many options, which disappointed her. She selected fire magic from a pull-down menu and entered in her choice. The display changed to a screen showing the perspective from the left orb's point of view with a targeting reticle in the middle. Quistis aimed for the bottom of the wall and pushed the button.
Soon, the orb began charging the spell. Quistis watched as the energy displays changed to show the energy building and building. When the orb was fully charged, the display showed the words, "Ready to fire."
(I hope this works.)
She pushed the button again, and the orb emptied the fire spell onto the floor, shooting out a blast of flame that scorched the walls and parts of the floor. When the spell was exhausted, the fire stopped. The metal interior of the basement kept anything from catching afire.
"You did it!" Nida said. The Trepies beside him cheered as well, glad to see their favorite SeeD doing so well.
(Now to figure out a way to get this thing out of the basement.)
If NORG truly intended this pod to be a means of escape in the event of an emergency, he must have had a contingency plan to allow the pod to leave the basement. Quistis perused the controls and the display monitors, but saw nothing that indicated a way for the pod to leave the basement safely. No secret escape hatches, no collapsing panels leading to other portions of the school.
(There has to be something…)
Quistis refused to give up. She returned to the display panels and read through the list of options again, aware of the sounds of battle coming from above, urging her on for greater haste.
After a moment, she found a tool called the "cutting laser." She bit her lip.
"Headmaster…" she said. "I may have to cut a hole through the ceiling."
Cid shrugged. "If it helps protect Garden, then you have my permission."
Quistis maneuvered the pod so that it was directly under what she believed to be the hallway to the cafeteria. She doubted that there were many—if any—SeeDs stationed there, so she was unlikely to cause any collateral damage. She pulled back on both joysticks, pointing the nose of the pod straight up to the ceiling. Then she pushed the button for the cutting laser.
A thin blue beam emerged out of the nose of the pod. The beam was too slow to be used as a weapon, but it performed its task quite well, sheering through the underside of the first floor with ease. Quistis didn't know how to operate the laser independently, so she moved the whole pod in order to cut a circle into the ceiling wide enough for the pod to get through.
When she had almost completed the circle, the ceiling above her buckled under its own weight and collapsed. Reflexively, she curled into a ball and covered her head, but the pod easily deflected the falling debris. When Quistis looked up, she had a wide, clean hole leading up into the school. Renewed hope surged through her.
"Anyone who wants to fight, follow me," she said.
She grabbed the control sticks and pulled back hard and accelerated. The pod surged up out of the basement, emerging into the first floor of Garden and into the battle.