Chapter 54
Moment of Triumph
(Seifer)
The Horizon Bridge, on the westernmost edge of the Esthar continent.
Spanning the distance between Esthar and Galbadia, the bridge was the largest single structure ever created by humans. And at its eastern terminus the land around the bridge lay abandoned, an incredible feat of engineering left to rot and decay in the dry winds and jagged cliffs outside Esthar.
A lonely train station greeted Seifer when he finally stumbled—exhausted and dehydrated—to the end of the Horizon Bridge. A weatherworn shack, a disused crossing gate, and one set of dusty train tracks leading off into the distance were the only standing remnants of the old station. The station was so small Seifer doubted that it had ever gotten much use, even back in the days when Esthar still maintained contact with the rest of the world.
He walked towards the shack, his dry tongue sticking to his mouth. He held no hope that he would find any water sources nearby, but he knew he wouldn't be able to make the next leg of his intended journey—from the train station across the bridge to Fisherman's Horizon—without taking a break. And at least inside the station he would be sheltered from the monsters that had continually harassed him all the way from the Great Salt Lake. None of those monsters had been unusually strong, but the lack of food, rest, and the constant walking combined with the relentless monster attacks had completely worn him out.
As he rounded the corner of the shack looking for the front door, he was stunned to find a shiny blue Galbadian military car parked out front. Given the car's fresh paint and relative lack of dust, he knew it hadn't been abandoned along with the rest of the train station, and must have been parked there recently. He scowled.
(Great. Just what I need.)
(Fricken Galbadians.)
He had no idea what the G-Army was doing so far east—and so close to Esthar—but he didn't care. All that was important to him at the moment was the car parked out front. A new plan came to mind. If he could get the keys to the car and get inside, he could be in FH in a hundredth of the time it would take to walk the same distance. Not to mention the fact that there might be food rations or water bottles inside the car as well.
He licked his dry lips—still tasting remnants of the chemicals from the Great Salt Lake—and tried not to get his hopes up. The car itself was already more than he had expected to find. No sense in getting greedy and wishing for food and water as well.
(So where are the soldiers?)
He pressed himself closer to the aged wooden wall of the shack, glancing behind over his shoulder and then ahead around the corner. No soldiers had been stationed outside to keep watch, which meant that either the Galbadians hadn't expected to meet anyone or they had just gotten sloppy and forgotten to post a guard. Either possibility seemed likely to Seifer.
He looked at the car and considered his options. He could probably dash from his position and get to the car and break inside before any of the guards even noticed he was there. If they had been too relaxed to post a guard, then there was a chance they might have left the doors unlocked and the keys in the car as well. Seifer knew that he could always count on the poor discipline of the Galbadian army to provide him with unexpected advantages.
(Hell, I'm surprised they didn't leave the engine runnin'.)
But that was a risky move. If the guards did happen to remember basic security and had locked the doors or kept the keys with them, then Seifer would have to try to break a window, and Seifer didn't know how strong the glass was. If it proved too much for him, he'd be stuck out in the open, with nothing but the car to protect him as all the soldiers came down at him at once. In his exhausted condition, he didn't want to take any unnecessary chances.
He reconsidered his options and decided that the best plan would be to storm the shack and kill the soldiers. He would still have to fight the soldiers either way, but he'd have the element of surprise if he struck first. If the soldiers were sleeping or eating, then there was a good chance that he'd be able to wipe them all out without any them even grabbing their weapons. Then he could just snatch the keys from whichever dead soldier held them, and casually take the car with no worries.
Seifer nodded to himself.
(Sounds like a plan.)
He called up a fire spell in his right hand, aware that his magic supply was starting to dwindle. The journey to the Horizon Bridge and the constant monster attacks had sapped his reserves down to almost nothing. Flame burning in his hand, he strode quickly around the corner of the building, his eyes darting from side to side to make sure that the coast was clear.
He reached the front door—with no sounds of alarm coming from inside the shack—and raised one booted foot. Grunting, he kicked open the door, nearly sending the rotten thing flying off its hinges. It creaked and slammed into the wall, spraying up a cloud of ancient dust. He rushed inside.
It was darker in the shack than Seifer had anticipated. Years of dirt had grimed up the windows, allowing only thin streaks of faded light to fall on the warped wooden floor. At first he couldn't see anything in the gloom and his heart skipped a beat. He was aware of how vulnerable he was, standing there in the doorway with light shining behind him. Any soldiers inside would have a clear and easy shot at him, and he couldn't even see them well enough to fire back.
He snorted and considered ducking away and moving to the side, but now that he'd busted open the door and revealed his presence, his element of surprise was lost. Retreating now would just put him at a disadvantage. And maybe, he hoped, the Galbadian soldiers would be too frightened to do anything right away.
His eyes adjusted in a few seconds, revealing only two blue uniforms, sitting at a dusty table in the far corner of the room. Their silver helmets were placed at the side of the table. Neither of them made any motions for their weapons—or any moves at all. Seifer grinned.
(Only two?)
In Seifer's opinion, Galbadian soldiers were like drops of water. One or two wouldn't hurt. It was only a flood that could kill a person. He pulled back his arm and prepared to hurl his fireball when one of the soldiers raised his hand to his eyes to cut the glare. The soldier squinted and said, "Seifer?"
The voice was familiar. Familiar enough to cause Seifer to hesitate and put his arm down.
"Hey!" the voice said. "That is you, man! We been lookin' all over for ya, you know!"
Seifer quenched the fire in his hand. "… Rage?"
"Ya, ya," Raijin said, getting up from the table. His wooden chair screeched along the floor as he stood. As Seifer's eyes continued to adjust, he recognized Fujin's gray hair and her slim frame sitting across from Raijin. They were playing cards, their decks stacked on either side of the table. As usual, Fujin was winning. She blinked at him with her one eye.
"The hell are you guys doin' here?" Seifer asked. He was too confused to be relieved. After everything that had happened in the past few days, he had almost forgotten that Fujin and Raijin still existed. Finding them there, of all places, had momentarily staggered his mind.
"We're lookin' for you, man!" Raijin said, approaching within arm's reach of Seifer. "We been all over, ya know!" Raijin turned and looked over at Fujin, who sat placidly at the table, scratching the side of her head with one finger. "Tell 'im, Fuge."
"EVERYWHERE," Fujin said in a bored voice.
Seifer smirked and approached the table.
(Finally, some good luck for a change.)
"Well, tell me what's happened," Seifer said. "And why are ya dressed like Galbadians?"
He grabbed a nearby chair, spinning it around backwards, and swung his leg over one side. He crossed his arms over the backrest and felt his legs give out a wave of relief now that he was finally off his feet. Splinters and loose wood jabbed into Seifer's rear as he sat, but he didn't care. Raijin plopped down in his chair beside him.
"After the Galbadians took ya," Raijin said, "We figured they'd head right back to Deling City, ya know?"
"LOGICAL," Fujin said.
Seifer nodded in agreement.
"But the soldiers were still crawlin' all over Balamb, ya know," Raijin said. "So we had to lay low. We snuck back into the fire cavern and hung there for a while."
"SWELTERING," Fujin said.
"Ya, Fuge is right," Raijin said. "It was pretty awful. I mean, it sucked every time the three of us went in there, but Fuge and I stayed down there all night, just in case the G-Army was after us, ya know? And lemme tell ya, you can't get any sleep down in the Fire Cavern. Not even right by the entrance."
"Right," Seifer said.
(Cry me a river.)
(Least you guys weren't strung up and tortured.)
"The next day, the whole army cleared outta town," Raijin said. "Boom. Just like that. So that's when we startin' lookin' for you. The trains were all shut down, but we found a fisherman who took us to Dollet. But as soon as we crossed the border from Dollet into Galbadia, there were soldiers everywhere, ya know!"
"SWARMING," Fujin said.
"They were lookin' for sorceresses, they said," Raijin said. "With them funny devices that are supposed to detect 'em, ya know. Just like they had in Balamb."
"I remember," Seifer said. He could still recall those little gray boxes that would light up green or red, depending on if a person had magic or not. Seifer had managed to extract a few details about the machines from a soldier back in Balamb, but he still didn't know what they were or how they worked.
"Get this," Raijin said. He leaned forward, as if he was about to share some profound secret. "Turns out, the Galbadians don't really have a way to find sorceresses."
Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Eh?"
"Yeah, those machines, ya know?" Raijin said. "They're just para-magic storage tanks that they pulled off of old robots. They fiddled with the design a bit so that they can kinda sorta detect magic, instead of just store it. But it's totally bogus, ya know? Anyone who junctions—or who's even been near magic—will trigger the alert. So Galbadia was just basically arrestin' everybody, ya know? We knew that if they ever waved one of them things at us, we'd light it up right away."
"DISGUISES," Fujin said.
"Yeah, they were checkin' everybody," Raijin said. "But they weren't checking other soldiers. So once we figured that out, we snagged a couple of uniforms and bam! We just got free passes to wherever we wanted in Galbadia. No one asks any questions about soldiers. They just leave 'em be."
"OFFICERS," Fujin said.
"Yeah, well, the officers still check out your papers and stuff," Raijin said, correcting himself. "But as long as you avoid them, it's easy to get around Galbadia. So yeah, we've just been cruising around, lookin' for you, man. Eventually we ended up in FH and man, that was a bad decision."
Seifer perked up. He had been planning to go to FH and now that the conversation had switched to that city, he found himself full of renewed interest.
"Why was that a bad decision?" Seifer asked.
"OBLITERATED," Fujin said.
"Yeah," Raijin said. "Earlier today the G-Army came in and just busted the place up. Droppin' missiles like crazy, like they wanted to sink the whole city."
Seifer clenched his jaw.
"… Really…" he said, more as a statement than a question.
(So much for goin' to FH.)
(Looks like I gotta come up with a new plan.)
If the Galbadians had wrecked FH, had they also wrecked the Horizon Bridge as well? If so, then how would Seifer get back west and find Squall? Furthermore, if the G-Army was still in the area, how was he supposed to get off the continent at all? He ground his teeth as his friends continued to talk.
"Fuge and I got out of there just as the bombs startin' droppin'," Raijin said. "We hauled ass until we got here. Then we decided to take a bit of a break, ya know, and figure out our next move. And then you busted in here and that's the story."
"IDEAS?" Fujin asked, turning to Seifer.
"Yeah, whaddya think?" Raijin asked. "Fuge and I were wonderin' if we should dump the car in the ocean and pretend to be civilians or if we should stay dressed up as Galbadians."
Seifer narrowed his eyes. "Why bother with either of those plans? Why not just stay here until this all blows over?"
"Cause, man," Raijin said. He leaned forward some more, practically laying on the table now. "Galbadia's comin' this way. Looks like they're headin' straight for Esthar and we don't know where to go, man. We're stuck in the middle of all this craziness!"
"WAR," Fujin said.
"Yeah," Raijin said. "And there's nowhere for us to go. If we stay dressed up as soldiers, then the G-Army might pick us up and try to make us fight with them. Or Esthar might find us and blast us on sight. But if we ditch the gear, then what? We'll be stranded out here with nothin'. And then maybe Esthar or the G-Army will kill us just for lookin' funny. That's what we were thinkin' about when you showed up."
Seifer sat up in his chair and exhaled. This news had certainly given him a lot to think over. He laced his fingers together and rested his chin against his hands.
(War between Esthar and Galbadia?)
(I don't really care one way or the other.)
(Both nations can rot in hell.)
(But how's this gonna change my plans?)
He decided to try to get more information out of Fujin and Raijin. They weren't the brightest people he knew, but unlike him they had been traveling and talking to people, experiencing what was going on in the world. Meanwhile, Seifer had been a prisoner first in G-Garden, then in D-District, and again aboard the Ragnarok. He had no idea what had changed in the world in the past few days.
"I need to find Squall," Seifer said. "Whatever Galbadia and Esthar want to do with each other is their own damn business. Squall's the only one that matters to me."
Fujin and Raijin exchanged a confused glance.
"WHY?" Fujin asked.
"'Cause I'm gonna kill him," Seifer said matter-of-factly. Neither Fujin nor Raijin seemed terribly surprised by this news. They both continued to watch him in the dull gloom of the shack, their expressions never changing.
"ULTIMECIA?" Fujin asked.
"Fuge has got a point, man," Raijin said. "Is this another mission from the sorceress? You still pullin' that sorceress knight stuff?"
Seifer hesitated, but just for a brief moment.
(Well, yes and no.)
(This is for the sorceress… )
(… But it's not part of her plan.)
Judging by their tones, Seifer doubted that Fujin and Raijin would have helped him if he'd said that yes, this was another part of his dealings with Ultimecia. The sorceress from the future was still a source of contention between the three of them, and mentioning her in this conversation probably wasn't going to win him any support. And he realized—though he hated to admit it—that he did need their help. Trying to do this solo would probably get him killed or imprisoned.
"No," Seifer said, shaking his head. "This is personal."
(True enough.)
Fujin shrugged. "FINE."
"We don't know where Squall is," Raijin said. "But Garden showed up at FH just before the Galbadians did. After the missiles started droppin', they headed east for a while. Then we lost track of 'em. Dunno what happened after that."
"And Squall's with Garden?" Seifer asked. Last time Seifer had seen Squall, he was covered in his own blood, getting dragged off to the escape pods by Rinoa. A part of Seifer doubted that Squall was alive, and he doubted even more that Squall would have managed to reunite with Garden. But still, it was the only lead he had.
(If Squall's alive, then he'd look for Garden.)
(We dumped them both off in the ocean outside of FH…)
(… So there's a chance he managed to find Garden through sheer dumb luck.)
It seemed like a long shot, but he didn't have another choice. The way he saw it, there were three possibilities. Either Squall had found Garden and was with them, or he was still floating in the ocean, or he was dead. If Seifer was going to have any chance of reaching Squall before Ultimecia got inside the Lunatic Pandora and began time compression, he would have to hope that Squall had survived and made it to Garden.
('Cause otherwise my only option is to comb the entire fricken ocean lookin' for him.)
"Dunno about that, man," Raijin said. "Never saw Squall. Just what's-her-name in the yellow dress and what's-his-name in the cowboy hat. Never saw any others."
(Selphie and Irvine.)
Seifer knew them instantly from Raijin's descriptions. He also knew that Selphie and Irvine weren't traveling with Squall. The three had run into each other inside G-Garden, and Selphie and Irvine had known nothing of Squall's whereabouts. So learning that Selphie and Irvine were in FH didn't prove anything about Squall's condition or location.
Seifer ground his teeth.
(I have to find him.)
(I have to end this.)
"How long d'ya think before Galbadia gets here?" Seifer asked.
Fujin and Raijin exchanged a glance, then shrugged.
"Dunno, man," Raijin said. "Could be any minute. Could be tomorrow. Could be a week from now. We don't have a radio in the car, so we haven't heard anything."
(Well, that's helpful.)
"So what are we doin'?" Raijin asked.
Seifer leaned forward, making his chair squeak loudly. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Well, my best shot at findin' Squall is to go after Garden," Seifer said. "And I guessin'—if Esthar and Galbadia are goin' to war—then Garden's gonna side with Esthar. Which means I might be able to find him if I check Esthar."
"IMPROBABLE." Fujin said.
"Yeah, man," Raijin said. "What if you're wrong? What if you go lookin' in Esthar and he ain't there?"
(Then Ultimecia will continue her mission to cast time compression.)
(One way or another, she'll get to the Lunatic Pandora.)
(Then the world will end.)
(And all of us along with it.)
Seifer shrugged. "Then we're screwed," he said. "Look, you don't have to come with me. Like I said, this is personal. If I were you, I'd probably stay holed up in his shack and let this whole war blow over. Seems the smartest thing to do."
Fujin and Raijin exchanged a glance. Then Fujin thumped her hand to her chest in a perfect SeeD salute. Raijin did the same.
"POSSE," Fujin said.
"Yeah, man," Raijin said. "If you're goin' to Esthar, then we're comin' too."
Seifer smirked. After a moment, he returned the salute. The motion meant nothing to him anymore—he had long ago severed all his ties with SeeD—but seeing the three of them united again gave him a sentimental twinge in his chest.
"Glad to have you aboard," Seifer said. "Well, let's quit wastin' time in this graveyard. We got places to be."
Seifer stood up, his chair squeaking noisily. Fujin and Raijin stood as well. They collected their cards and their helmets off the table and together the three of them exited into the warm late afternoon sunlight.
"GUNBLADE," Fujin said casually. Raijin snapped his fingers and stomped on the ground, his mouth open in a silent "O."
"Right!" Raijin said. "We got your gunblade, man!"
Seifer twitched. "What? You do?"
"Yeah, it's in the back, man," Raijin said. Fujin strode over to the G-Army car and approached the rear hatch. She pulled the ring of keys out of her pocket and searched around for the right one. Seifer stood waiting, his arms crossed and his teeth grinding.
(Faster, faster, faster.)
She finally got the right key. She shoved it in the lock, twisted, and lifted up the hatch.
And there, stretched diagonally across the floor of the back of the car, was Hyperion, Seifer's gunblade. Seifer almost could have cried, just looking at it. He reached inside and laid his hand on the handle, the curve of the grip specifically molded to fit his hand. He pulled it out gently and held it in both hands, turning it side to side and watching the sun flicker off the steel.
Seifer felt as though he had lost his arms or his eyes and had now found them again. He felt complete, whole, and revitalized. His fatigue and his hunger and his dehydration faded into the back of his mind. At that moment, he felt like he could have fought the whole G-Army and the Esthar army by himself.
"Finally," Seifer said softly. "I'm alive again."
After spending severals long seconds admiring his blade, he glanced up and noticed that—as he had originally guessed when he first came to the shack—there were indeed stacks of rations and water bottles in the back of the car. His hunger and thirst returned in a rush and he climbed inside the car with his gunblade and sat down hard beside the water bottles. He pulled one out of the case, twisted off the cap, and chugged down the entire contents in one long, sustained pull.
When he was finished with the water, he threw aside the empty bottle and grabbed one of the rations and broke it open. The container was labeled "hamburger" but the contents inside were just a vague, mushy glop that could have been anything. Seifer shoveled it down without tasting it. After that, he grabbed another water bottle and stepped back out of the car—still holding his gunblade in one hand—and rejoined Fujin and Raijin.
"Feel better, man?" Raijin asked.
In response, Seifer belched and wiped his mouth with the back of his glove.
(Like I just won the lottery.)
"PLANS?" Fujin asked.
"We need to get into Esthar," Seifer said. He belched again under his breath. His stomach was twisting, trying to reject the food ration he had inhaled. He swallowed hard and held it down. "Obviously we can't dress up as Galbadians and expect them to give us a warm welcome. And they already know what I look like in civilian clothes, so that's outta the question too."
"STEALTH?" Fujin asked.
"Not gonna work," Seifer said. "Too much security."
The whole city was a giant machine, and a vast portion of their time and money was spent ensuring that no one entered the city without the government knowing of it. Even if Seifer was an expert on Esthar, he doubted he'd be able to find a way inside. Maybe he'd have a chance if they stumbled upon a few Esthar soldiers and stole their uniforms, but that was unlikely to happen.
"So…" Raijin said. He crossed his arms and thought to himself, staring blankly up at the sky.
"If Galbadia's really serious about fightin' Esthar," Seifer said. He paused and swallowed some water. "Then they're not just gonna stop outside the city walls and knock politely. They'll want to bust in. And we just need to go inside with them. We already have a car and you two have the uniforms. The G-Army will break open a hole, and all we gotta do is drive through it. That's our ticket inside."
"ESTHAR?" Fujin asked.
"Yeah, they won't be too happy to see us if we're dressed as Galbadians, ya know," Raijin said.
"True," Seifer said. "But we'll be one of many, hopefully. The Esthar soldiers won't be able to pick us out of the crowd. Once we get past their outer defenses, it should be easy from there."
"And then what?" Raijin asked.
Honestly, Seifer didn't have a response to that question. He knew this whole mission was both crazy and a long shot. The odds that Squall had survived, gone to Garden, and that Garden had then joined with Esthar were already staggeringly low. Add to that the low probability of Seifer breaking through Esthar's defenses alive and then finding Squall, and even Seifer knew that the math just didn't add up. What he was attempting to do was so fantastically improbable, it might as well be impossible.
(Guess we'll just see what Fate has in store for me.)
"Don't worry about it," Seifer said with a cocky grin. "I got it figured out."
As usual, Fujin and Raijin simply accepted Seifer's plan without further explanation. As long as he seemed confident, they rarely raised a fuss.
(One of the best things about these two, as far as I'm concerned.)
(Loyalty without question.)
They didn't have a third Galbadian uniform for Seifer, but that was okay, since he hadn't planned on disguising himself anyway. Once inside Esthar, the uniform would be more of a hindrance than anything—making him a quickly recognizable target for any trigger happy Esthar soldiers. He was still identifiable in his civilian clothes, but if he looked like a regular person, the soldiers might hesitate before attacking.
He hopped into the back of the car—noticing Fujin's chakram and Raijin's staff on the floor—while the other two got into the front seats. Fujin fired up the engine, and Seifer ordered her to park the car behind the shack, where it wouldn't be visible from the Horizon Bridge.
And there they waited. Fujin and Raijin both grabbed rations from the back of the car, but Seifer's stomach was still rebelling against his "hamburger" from before, and he abstained from joining them. He didn't want to fight on a full stomach anyway.
Less than a half an hour later, Seifer heard distant rumblings echoing along the bridge.
"And here they come," Seifer said.
While they were waiting in the car, Seifer had wondered if Esthar would come out to meet the Galbadians at the coast. Depending on the size and strength of Esthar's military, this might have proven to be a sound tactic, and one that would wreck Seifer's chances of making it inside the city. But so far Seifer had seen nothing from them, and with the Galbadians almost right on top of them, it seemed unlikely that Esthar was planning to leave the protection of their city. Apparently, Esthar had more faith in its city defenses than it had in its military.
Soon, the lead cars of the Galbadian army zipped past the shack, kicking up plumes of dust in their wake. With the car tucked behind the shack, Seifer and the others weren't visible unless the soldiers looked backwards once they drove past the shack, which they weren't likely to do. Odds were that everyone in the G-Army would have their eyes forward, watching for an Esthar counterattack. No one would expect to find anyone hiding out behind the tiny shack at the abandoned train station.
Seifer watched through the car window as first dozens then hundreds of Galbadian army cars—nearly identical to the one he was sitting in—sped past the shack. Galbadian supply trucks laden with weaponized robots rolled past. Several missile launchers—each flanked by dozens of smaller cars—roared in the pack as well. Seifer watched them all storm by, mildly impressed.
(Galbadia's not kidding around.)
"Man…" Raijin said. "It's really happenin', ya know. Galbadia and Esthar are goin' to war."
"INEVITABLE," Fujin said.
Seifer snorted, then nodded in agreement. He knew it was human nature: any time two people—or two nations—posed a threat to one another, conflict was certain to break out eventually. The fear of being attacked by one's enemy would drive a nation to attack the other first, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, wherein the people initiate war in order to avoid defeat in war. Really, Seifer was more surprised that the two nations hadn't clashed sooner.
"Shouldn't we be goin' with them?" Raijin asked.
"No," Seifer said. "The first wave is probably gonna be a massacre on both sides. We don't wanna be part of that."
"Gotcha," Raijin said. He paused for a few seconds, then asked, "What if Esthar wins? Like, what if Galbadia can't break through, ya know?"
(I'd go crazy if I worried about all the millions of things that can go wrong with this plan.)
"They will," Seifer said, sounding more confident than he felt. "Galbadia was ready for this. Esthar wasn't."
"But Esthar has home turf, ya know," Raijin said.
(Quit psychin' yourself out, Rage…)
"It'll be fine," Seifer said. He was beginning to be annoyed by the questions. "You'll see."
In the distance, beyond the mountains, Seifer could see small flashes of light and hear distant pops and rumbles. The ground vibrated slightly.
(It's starting.)
(Ain't no turning back now.)
"So who do we want to win?" Raijin asked. "Esthar or Galbadia?"
"Doesn't matter to me," Seifer said. "They both hate my guts. They just wear different uniforms."
"How 'bout you, Fuge?" Raijin asked, turning to face her.
"GALBADIA," Fujin said.
"Eh? Why them?" Raijin asked.
"CONSTANCY," Fujin said. "PREDICTABILITY."
"Ah, yeah, ya got a point," Raijin said. "Kind of a 'devil you know' sorta thing, right? Galbadia sucks, but at least we know what we're up against with them. If Esthar took over, man, who knows what'll happen, ya know?"
Seifer allowed the two of them to continue talking. As long as they kept the conversation light and informal, it would help keep their nerves under control. Silently dwelling about the future battle would have been worse for their mental state.
(I don't need them freakin' out when the time comes.)
(Not worried about Fuge, really, but Rage can get a little emotional sometimes.)
Finally, after enough Galbadian cars had gone by to satisfy Seifer, he crouched forward, putting his head between the two front seats of the car and motioned for Fujin to join the advancing Galbadian army.
She fired up the engine and spun the tires, spraying up dust and debris. She brought the car up to speed, matching the pace of the cars around her, and blended seamlessly into the crowd. None of the other vehicles seemed to notice their sudden arrival, or, if they did, they did nothing about it. Seifer ducked into the back seat, just in case some overeager Galbadian officer happened to peer through the window and wonder why a civilian was riding in the back of their car.
They covered the distance between the edge of the continent and the western borders of the Great Salt Lake in a matter of minutes. What had taken Seifer ages to cross seemed to pass by in mere seconds. The monsters in the area had all been frightened off or mowed down by the Galbadians, leaving nothing but clear driving all the way to the line of mountains that shielded Esthar's western border.
The mountains and the forests formed a natural barricade against outsiders, but the Galbadian vanguard had already dealt with the situation. They had found different routes between the high, jagged peaks and used bombs and artillery to mow down the trees and flatten the land somewhat, creating makeshift roads for the Galbadians to pass through. The craters left in the ground by the explosions caused the car to bounce wildly, forcing Seifer to grip his seat tightly to avoid being slammed into the roof of the car.
As the mountains grew higher and more perilous, the width of the improvised road began to shrink, and soon all the G-Army cars were forced into a long single-file line, marching eastward between the mountains and deep ravines and sheer rock walls. Fujin slid the car casually behind a tall Galbadian missile launcher and stayed right on its bumper. Seifer peered up, looking for the tops of the mountains, but he couldn't see them without pressing his face almost right up to the windows.
(They're a lot bigger when you're up close like this.)
In between gaps in the mountains and through the patches of forest, Seifer could see other Galbadian convoys that were making their way—with varying degrees of success—through other routes in the mountains. Occasionally he could see where a rockslide had demolished another path, forcing the convoys to detour, or where a G-Army vehicle had gotten bogged down in the road. He watched as blue-uniformed G-Soldiers scurried around a supply truck that had sunk into a crevasse, trying to dig it out.
The road zigzagged and cut its way through narrow passages. Seifer could occasionally catch glimpses of the battle in the distance, when they were turning or climbing a small rise in the road. They were still too far away for him to discern any specific details of what was going on at the front, but he could see the flashes of light growing closer, the low rumblings becoming stronger. Raijin fidgeted in his seat, but remained silent. Fujin's gaze was icy as she maneuvered the car down the uneven road.
After several minutes, they reached a point where the mountains began to thin out, revealing more forested areas and wide open spaces. Here, Seifer could see the enormous wall of holographic panels that normally obscured Esthar from sight. Now, however, it had sprouted dozens of new holes—charred black around the edges from the Galbadian missiles that had formed them. In the places where the panels were still intact, there was apparently nothing but empty blue skies ahead, but through the holes blasted in the panels, Seifer could see black machinery and glimpses of the city beyond. It was as if there were holes in reality, leading to a fantastic alternate universe.
Further ahead, at the base of the holographic panel wall, Galbadia had set up a number of staging areas, where they gathered their troops and supplies and readied them for the next phase of the invasion. Near each staging area, large holes had been punched through the panel wall to allow cars and artillery through. Seifer couldn't see beyond the wall, but flashes of light, smoke, and explosions emerged through the gaps in the panels, providing a hint of the battle that was raging on the other side.
Outside the edge of the nearest staging area, Seifer saw a long flatbed truck parked on the side of the path. There were two X-ATM092 machines on the back, placed one behind the other. These robots—commonly called "Black Widows" by the G-Army—were four-legged spider-like robots that could be controlled manually or programmed to carry out simple tasks. Each one was large enough to crush a person underfoot and came equipped with front-mounted machine guns and rear-mounted rocket launchers. Two large arms like forelegs emerged from the fronts of each machine. The machines were in their neutral position, their legs bunched up close to the sides like two massive dead spiders on the back of the truck. A variety of straps secured them tightly against the flatbed truck.
Seifer had always thought Black Widows were the coolest of all the Galbadian machinery—both incredibly powerful and impressive-looking—and he gazed longingly at the robots as they approached the truck, the way one might stare at a fancy car.
(I want one.)
"Pull over," Seifer said.
Fujin gave him a glance, her eyebrows narrowed. When she saw his serious expression, she shrugged and pulled the car off the path and parked behind the flatbed truck. The rest of the convoy continued on into Esthar, indifferent to Seifer's vehicle.
"Yo, why we stoppin'?" Raijin asked.
"We're takin' one of those Black Widows into the city," Seifer said, pointing at the robots.
Fujin shook her head. "EXPOSED," she said.
"Fuge is right, ya know," Raijin said. "We're safer in the car. We'll be hangin' out in the open if we try to ride a Black Widow. Practically beggin' for Esthar to blast us to pieces."
Seifer scowled. It was rare for Fujin and Raijin to disagree with him, and he hated when they argued with him. He wasn't accustomed to having to defend his point.
(These two have gotten a lot more rebellious since I last saw them.)
"You both saw Esthar City," Seifer said. Fujin and Raijin nodded.
There were a few maps and resources about Esthar available in Garden, but they were all incredibly out of date, since it had been almost twenty years since Esthar had had any dealing with the outside world. However, the three had caught a glimpse of modern Esthar during their flyover of the city, when they had been controlling the Lunatic Pandora and piloting it over to Tears' Point. It hadn't been much of an experience, but it was enough to leave an impression.
"Well, it's all a tangle of skyways and tall buildings," Seifer said. "We won't get anywhere if we're stuck on the ground in a car. We need a vehicle with mobility, and Black Widows can jump like crazy."
Raijin exchanged a glance with Fujin. He turned to Seifer and said, "But they ain't really vehicles, ya know? Ain't s'posed to ride 'em."
Raijin had a point. Black Widows were meant to be controlled from a distance and sent in to hostile areas without putting any human soldiers at risk. But Seifer had not gotten as far as he had in life by using machines according to their instruction manuals.
(Gotta be creative if you wanna get ahead.)
"Leave it to me," Seifer said.
One of the G-Army soldiers who was helping unload the four Black Widows from the truck finally took notice of the car parked behind him. He shuffled over to the car and tapped on the window. Fujin glanced at Seifer for suggestions, and Seifer nodded his head at her. She unrolled the window and the soldier peeked his head inside.
"Is there a problem?" the soldier asked.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Seifer slammed the guard with a death spell and lunged over Fujin's seat. As the guard began to collapse, Seifer grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him through the open window and across Fujin and Raijin's laps.
"Aw, hey, watch it!" Raijin complained.
"HEAVY," Fujin said, pushing the man's legs off of her.
"Quit yer whinin'," Seifer said. With another heave, he pulled the soldier into the backseat with him and stretched his body across the floor. He glanced through the windows to make sure that no one was sounding the alarm, but since they were so close to Esthar, no one was paying attention to anything other than the front lines and their own immediate objectives, and the whole event had gone unnoticed. The convoy on the road continued onward, and the other soldiers around the Black Widows were too focused on unloading their cargo to notice where one soldier had gone.
"Go take out the other guards," Seifer said. "Do it quietly. I'll be right behind you."
Fujin and Raijin obeyed. They grabbed their weapons, put their helmets on, and stepped out of the car and onto the rocky surface of the ditch. G-Army cars continued to file past, moving into Esthar City and towards the explosions and gunfire in the distance. No one paid any attention to the parked vehicle or the two soldiers exiting it.
In the backseat, Seifer fumbled with the guard. His first thought had been to steal the man's uniform, but it would be hard to change clothes in the cramped quarters. Plus, there was the question of where he would leave his civilian clothes once he had taken them off. He obviously couldn't carry them around with him, which would mean he would have to leave everything behind. He frowned and immediately disregarded that idea. He and his trench coat had been through a lot together, and he wasn't going to abandon it here.
(A helmet is disguise enough.)
He undid the straps around the soldier's chin and pried off the man's helmet. The inside of the helmet was damp with sweat and smelled like body odor, but Seifer didn't care. He worked the helmet onto his head and made sure the visor was down over his eyes. He figured that only a really finicky officer would care to say anything about Seifer's clothes, so long as he wore a helmet and didn't cause problems.
He stepped out of the car and stretched his legs. He adjusted his gunblade at his waist and looked around. Fujin and Raijin had already disposed of three of the guards, knocking them out with spells and stuffing their bodies underneath the truck. The angle of the road and the steep cliffs around them made it hard for anyone driving along the road to see what was going on near the truck.
Seifer jogged to catch up to his companions, just in time to watch Fujin chuck a death spell through the window of the truck's cab, killing the driver instantly. Raijin dropped another soldier by jabbing the end of his staff into the man's throat. After the soldier fell to the ground, Raijin used his foot to roll the body into a small crevasse and out of sight, then turned and nodded at Seifer.
"Good disguise, man," Raijin said sarcastically. "Can't hardly recognize you."
"Shut it," Seifer said. "Did you get all of 'em?"
"CLEAR," Fujin said, leaning out of the window of the truck. She opened the door and hopped down onto the ground. Seifer was amazed by the indifference of the rest of the army, which continued to file past them on the road not even a dozen steps away, unaware that two of their most valuable robots had just been seized by outsiders.
(Man, the G-Army is sloppy.)
"So, you get one and we get one then?" Raijin asked. He pursed his lips hopefully, looking like a child asking for dessert.
"Tch," Seifer said. "Like I can trust you to pilot one of these."
"Aww…" Raijin said. He drooped his head in disappointment.
"I'll drive," Seifer said. "You two flank me on either side and protect us and the Black Widow. Got it?"
Fujin and Raijin nodded. Seifer clambered up onto the bed of the truck and tucked himself between the Black Widows. They were so much larger up close. Each leg was as wide around as Seifer, and the main body was the size of a small car. He could smell motor oil and gasoline in the air. The insides were packed with machinery, so the only way to actually ride a Black Widow was to climb on top of it.
He worked his way around the Black Widow at the front of the truck, undoing the straps that held the machine in place. A couple of the straps refused to come undone, so Seifer cut them apart with his gunblade. When the Black Widow was freed, he began looking for the controls.
"YO," Fujin said. Seifer turned to look. She was carrying a large remote control, about the size of a hardcover book. A series of buttons and dials were located on the front.
"Gimme that," Seifer said. Fujin tossed it up at him and he caught it in the air.
For a moment he was worried that the controls would be complicated. Black Widows looked like they would require a lot of training and experience to operate. But to his surprise, the controls were designed to be as simple and understandable as possible. Although there were dozens of buttons, they were all neatly labeled and organized. The sequence of buttons needed to start up the Black Widows were helpfully labeled, "One," "Two," and "Three," so Seifer knew which order to press them in.
He pressed the startup buttons and the X-ATM092 beside him twitched to life, the machinery inside of it humming menacingly. A series of horizontal LED lights on the front glowed red like eyes. Seifer grinned.
"Awesome," Seifer said.
He looked down at the remote control and quickly figured out the rest of the machine's operations. While the process of programming specific targets and organizing automated patrol routes and such was pretty complicated, the manual controls were simple, composed of a couple of joysticks for the forward-and-back motions and the side-to-side motions, plus a button to jump as well as buttons for the machine guns and rocket launchers. Two little knobs at the front controlled the Black Widow's forelegs.
(Easy.)
"Come on," Seifer said to his posse. "Or I'll leave yer asses behind."
Seifer leapt on top of the Black Widow and peered down at the Galbadian convoy on the road beside him. In the distance behind him, the convoy stretched almost all the way to the horizon, nothing but blue cars and support trucks—and even a few more Black Widows on trucks—all the way as far as he could see, cutting paths through the rugged mountains.
Fujin and Raijin climbed up onto the truck, then hopped onto the Black Widow alongside Seifer. Raijin huddled on his hands and knees, looking for a place to grip with his hands. The surface of the machine's body was smooth, but he found that he could reach down the side and find a small purchase for his hand to grip. He tucked his staff under his arm and braced himself.
On the other side of Seifer, Fujin clipped her chakram to her belt and bent over. She found another handhold on the opposite side and grasped it. Seifer knelt down on the machine's head and balanced the remote control on his knee. One hand gripped the face of the robot to steady himself while the other held the controls.
"Ready?" Seifer asked.
Without waiting for a response, he braced himself and pushed the forward stick. The X-ATM092 shuddered to life, extending its four legs and standing up to its full height. The three gripped the Black Widow tightly as it moved. Seifer used his thumb to push the left joystick forward, and the Black Widow marched straight ahead, clambering over the truck's cabin, its four huge legs tearing holes in the truck, shattering the glass and punching holes in the engine. The Black Widow was a frightening machine, and Seifer felt the greatest exhilaration riding atop it.
(This is so awesome!)
They hit the ground at what was a moderate walking pace for the robot, each massive footstep shaking the ground and leaving holes in the rocky dirt. The Black Widow didn't move as smoothly as a car—it had a peculiar, lurching gait—but once Seifer got the rhythm down, he found it rather easy to stay atop the giant mechanical spider and guide it towards the nearest Galbadian staging area outside the hologram wall.
Now, for the first time, the G-Army was beginning to notice something was wrong. A lot of G-Soldiers were gawking at them, their mouths visible from underneath their silver visors. A few red-clad officers were shouting things at Seifer, but he couldn't hear over the din of the machinery. Fujin and Raijin braced themselves, ready to protect the Black Widow and themselves if anyone tried to stop them.
When they reached the staging area outside the Esthar hologram panels, Seifer glanced down to make sure he knew how to control the gatling guns. He figured that—if Galbadia was ever going to try to stop them—now would be the time.
And sure enough, as they stepped into the crowd of soldiers and machinery and missile launchers, one G-Army officer stepped bravely into the path of the Black Widow and raised his arm, pointing his wrist-mounted machine gun at them.
"Outta the way!" Seifer yelled, slamming his finger down on the "Fire Gat." button. Immediately, the four-barreled gun at the front of the machine began spinning. A second later a line of lead fired from the front of the Black Widow. Seifer's aim was off, and all he managed to do was tear a line of destruction at the officer's feet, but it was enough to make the soldier cry out and dive off to the side, his selfless bravado erased.
A few more soldiers stepped up, trying to rush at the machine from the sides. Fujin and Raijin swatted them off with wind and lightning magic. Seifer edged his finger forward, increasing the Black Widow's pace from a walk to a rapid jog. The lurching atop the main body got worse, and Seifer had to crouch down closer to the body to avoid being thrown off, but at this more rapid pace, none of the G-Soldiers could even try to stop them. A few fired their weapons at them, but they bounced harmlessly off the sides and legs of the spider and didn't stop Seifer. The rush of speed, the power of the Black Widow, and the chaos of battle ahead got Seifer's blood pounding. He grinned.
(I was born for this stuff.)
He rushed through one of the openings in the holographic panels and into the battle.
Beyond the wall was the sparkling city of Esthar, rising up from the cold, rocky ground like an endless series of crystals. The city began almost immediately on the other side of the wall, creating a disorienting effect. The holographic panels on the other side had shown nothing but empty blue skies, but once Seifer crossed the threshold, he found himself at the feet of dozens of towering skyscrapers. The Black Widow's heavy footsteps crunched along the glass-paved roads of Esthar city.
Atop the skyscrapers and along the soaring skyways were hundreds and hundreds of guns. The roads were chewed up from the explosions of lasers and bombs and rockets and bullets. The air was full of yellow flashes of light. Blue laser beams crackled in the sky, leaving a scent of electricity in the air as they passed. All around, G-Army cars and soldiers advanced as far as they could before getting overwhelmed in the crushing barrage of Esthar's attack.
Fujin and Raijin cast what protective spells they could, to keep from being instantly obliterated by the assault. Within seconds of crossing the threshold, all three of them had been struck or nearly struck by flying debris or lasers or explosions or any of the other dozens of things happening at once. It was too much to focus on, too much to try to dodge. Already the Black Widow had taken a few hits, its legs hitching beneath it as it struggled to maintain its forward pace.
(If we stay here, we'll die.)
"Hold on!" Seifer said.
He tightened his grip on the Black Widow with one hand and with the other he mashed the "Jump" button. He didn't know where he was jumping to or how exactly to control the Black Widow once it was in the air, but staying down on the ground was suicidal.
As soon as he hit the button, the body of the Black Widow hunkered down until it was touching the ground, then quickly all four legs pushed down, hurtling the trio five stories into the air and out of the immediate barrage of Esthar artillery. Seifer was slammed down hard onto the top of the Black Widow, his jaw cracking into the metal and his teeth clamping shut with an audible snap. His chest hit the smooth body of the machine, nearly driving the air out of his lungs. His head spun with dizziness at the sudden and violent acceleration.
A second later, they reached the apex of the jump, and Seifer was able to take a moment to look at the glittering city of Esthar stretched out before them. He tried to gauge where they would land, but he was still stunned by the sudden jump and found it hard to concentrate. An instant later the Black Widow began to drop, and Seifer stretched himself down on top of the machine's body and clung to it with all his strength.
They hit the ground again, the four legs absorbing some of the impact, but even still Seifer was almost thrown completely from the top of the Black Widow. His legs dangled over the edge, and one arm only barely held on by his fingertips. He roared in frustration and pulled himself back on top of the machine, somehow still clutching the controls in his other hand. Miraculously, Fujin and Raijin had hung on as well, both of them visibly shaken by the whole experience.
The jump had pushed them further ahead than almost any of the other Galbadian forces, but they were still in front of the Esthar assault line. A few Esthar lasers adjusted themselves and aimed directly at them, firing static blue bolts through the sky at them. One of the lasers zipped past Seifer's ear, leaving a strange tingling sensation on his skin.
"One more time!" Seifer said.
"NO!" Fujin said.
"You're crazy!" Raijin yelped. Seifer mashed the jump button and the three were hurtled into the sky once more.
Seifer was a bit more prepared for the colossal jolt the second time around, but he still found his chest slamming hard into the metal top of the Black Widow. The only difference this time was that Seifer knew to keep his jaw firmly closed so it didn't snap painfully shut.
But this second jump—either through luck or providence—was enough to land them atop one of the smaller Esthar buildings. The impact upon landing was manageable, and Seifer was able to keep his balance without being flung from the machine.
All around them atop the building were gray-uniformed Esthar soldiers, shouting and firing at them. They hadn't expected any of the Galbadian weapons to come launching itself up from the ground at them, and their attacks were confused and panicked. Still, only the lingering effects of Fujin and Raijin's magic—coupled with the hardiness of the Black Widow—prevented them all from being torn to shreds instantly upon landing. Bullets clattered off the machine's steel legs, or ricocheted off a protective spell. Seifer realized he should have been dead five times over if it hadn't been for his friends' magic.
(Good thing I brought them along.)
Though they were still far from being safe, their circumstances were improving with each jump. The three had finally gotten out of the path of Esthar's relentless lasers—since the Esthar military wouldn't fire on one of its own buildings, especially not when it was crowded with soldiers. And now, from here, Seifer could see that they were almost past Esthar's defensive line. A short distance ahead, the city was empty and evacuated, no soldiers, no lasers, no civilians. If they could reach that point, they would be in the clear.
(At least until Esthar comes after us.)
But that was a problem for later.
Seifer grabbed the remote control in both hands and mashed forward, sending the machine into a dead sprint. Esthar soldiers fired at them, their bullets flicking off the sides of the Black Widow and rebounding across Seifer's magical shield. Fujin and Raijin were both clinging on with both hands. Raijin was shouting something, while Fujin stoically held on to the machine in silence. When they got to the far side of the building, Seifer hit the jump button once more, and the three were airborne again.
This time his luck did not come to his rescue. As soon as they were in the air, Seifer saw that they were on a collision course with the side of one of Esthar's larger buildings. Seifer could see a dozen copies of himself reflected in the blue glass windows as he and the others hurtled towards the side of the building.
Fujin and Raijin screamed and Seifer stabbed furiously at the remote control, but there was no way for the Black Widow to correct its course once it was airborne. Seifer cursed, then ducked his head and braced for impact.
They crashed through the window with a terrible shattering noise. Glass bounced off them and flew about in a sparkling shower. The X-ATM092 landed hard on the floor and its speed—coupled with its staggering weight—was just too much for the floor to handle, and it buckled beneath them, dropping them one story down to the lower level. Metal and building materials crumbled beneath them, and all Seifer could hear was a deafening rumble all around him. He felt pain, but wasn't sure where he was hurt.
When they hit the floor beneath them, the Black Widow—its onboard sensors frazzled by the impact—fell to three legs and heaved forward, tossing the trio out onto the floor. Seifer grunted as he hit the ground hard. His helmet saved him from cracking his skull against an exposed metal girder.
He laid there for a second, then, wincing, he rubbed his back and sat up. He ached in a dozen places, but had suffered no major wounds. When he was sure that he was alright, he took a look at his surroundings.
The building was empty, probably evacuated before the fighting started. It was recognizably an office, complete with rows and rows of cubicles and fancy boxes that looked like high-tech computers, but Seifer couldn't be sure. He had never seen anything like them before.
(Fujin and Raijin.)
"You two alive?" Seifer asked, turning to look at his companions.
"UGH," Fujin said, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees.
"Shoulda taken the car, ya know," Raijin said, rolling on to his back.
"Hey," Seifer said. "We were sitting ducks down there. The G-Army was gettin' blasted to pieces and we woulda got the same fate if we hadn't jumped the hell out of there. We lived, so quit yer whinin'!"
Seifer clambered to his feet. His gunblade was still safely clipped to his side, but the remote control had been thrown from his grip. He looked around in the rubble, trying to find it. He gazed up at the massive hole they had left in the ceiling. Through the hole, he could see up to the next level above them, and to the huge hole they had left in the wall of the building. He smirked.
(Nice bit of destruction.)
He stepped forward towards the window. Having jumped from the roof of a smaller skyscraper, Seifer and the others found themselves about ten stories off the ground. He had a good vantage point of the battle behind them. His three jumps had been enough to clear most of the front lines, and Esthar had only a handful of troops stationed in secondary positions behind the main front. As such, the building they were in and the surrounding areas were almost unguarded.
(Couldn't've planned it better if I tried.)
Esthar soldiers stationed atop buildings below him scrambled around, and he could see soldiers on the ground converging at the base of their building. He knew it wouldn't take them long to arrive. He moved his foot and his boot bumped against the remote control. He bent over and picked it up.
"Yo, you ain't thinkin' of gettin' back on that thing, are you?" Raijin asked. He had pulled off his helmet and approached Seifer.
"You don't like it, you can walk home," Seifer said. He pushed the button to make the Black Widow stand up. Debris fell off the machine in clumps as it jerked itself to its feet, the top of it scraping along the ceiling, shattering lights and kicking up more dust.
He pushed forward on the joystick and made the machine walk straight ahead. Its huge, clumsy legs tore through the dividing walls between cubicles, smashed apart desks, and kicked aside heavy computers as if they were dry leaves. Seifer marched along behind the Black Widow, smiling at it.
(This thing is awesome.)
At the far side of the building, Seifer made the Black Widow stop. He fired up the gatling gun and practiced aiming for a moment while he blew holes in the glass and shattered the windows. When the opening was wide enough for them to get through, Seifer turned to his companions.
"All aboard," he said. He latched on to the side of the machine's body. With the low ceiling, there wasn't anywhere for Seifer to climb on top, forcing him to hang off the side of the robotic spider. Fujin elbowed Raijin and pointed at his helmet in his hand.
"HELMET," she said. She hadn't taken hers off.
"Yeah," Raijin said. He put his helmet back on and carefully fastened the straps. "I'll be needin' it, ya know?"
They both jumped on to the other side of the X-ATM092—opposite of Seifer—and clung on desperately.
There wasn't enough room for Seifer to jump up through the window, so he mashed forward on the joystick as far as it would go, sending the Black Widow into a dead sprint towards the opening. They hurtled out blindly into space, floating weightlessly for an instant, with the city of Esthar sprawling beneath them.
Seifer let out a whoop of defiance as they fell. He had no idea where they were going or when they would land, but he absorbed every second of the experience and enjoyed it while he could.
Sooner than expected, they landed on something hard and Seifer lost his grip. He fell from the Black Widow, his knees slamming hard against a thick pane of glass below him. The remote control bounced from his hand again, and he flopped face-first into the glass.
Dazed, but unhurt, he opened his eyes and found that he could see through the glass road at the city below them. When he climbed onto his hands and knees, he saw that they had landed on one of the city's many skyways. In the distance, he could see the Lunatic Pandora, towering over the city, its massive Esthar logo gazing down like a watchful eye.
Fujin and Raijin moaned, but they seemed unhurt. Ignoring their complaints, Seifer hopped back on top of the Black Widow, and Fujin and Raijin begrudgingly climbed aboard as well.
Further down the skyway, a cluster of Esthar soldiers rushed on foot towards the Black Widow. Seifer scoffed and aimed the gatling gun. Now that he had a bit of practice in the office building, he easily tore a horizontal line across the group, almost cutting the soldiers in half with the speed and the power of the weapon. Within seconds, all the guards were dead, sprawled out on the glass roadway beneath his feet. Seifer pressed onward, marching the Black Widow forward at a jogging pace.
The network of skyways was a confusing mess of intersections, rising and lowering paths, dead ends, and routes down to the city streets. Long, transparent tubes followed along the skyways at points, but they were too small to admit the Black Widow and looked too weak to support its weight, so Seifer didn't bother trying to climb atop them.
But he did quickly learn that Esthar soldiers used those tubes to transport from one part of the city to another, so he kept his eyes on them. Whenever soldiers rushed from inside the tube, he leveled them with bursts from the Black Widows guns and pressed on. The feeling of power and invincibility that the machine gave him was intoxicating.
(I could do this all day.)
They continued down the skyway, all the while Seifer kept an eye on the Lunatic Pandora, hovering high above the Presidential Palace. Something told him that he should head in that direction. Maybe it was intuition, or maybe a part of him had realized that the Pandora was important to both Squall and Ultimecia, making it a likely place to find either one of them.
An explosion in the distance caught his eye. He realized that it was not the zapping sound of an Esthar laser of the concussive force of a bomb, but rather the crack and boom of a lightning spell. The presence of para-magic made him focus.
(It's him!)
Seifer, expecting to see Squall, turned towards the source of the sound. On a skyway that intersected just above where he was sitting, Seifer could see a cluster of Esthar soldiers surrounding a girl dressed in a strange wetsuit. The girl fired of two quick bolts of lightning, and Seifer caught a glimpse of her familiar golden hair.
(No… not Squall.)
(Ciel.)