Well. Glad to have another chapter out after this past semester. It ended up being quite a difficult one, as four of the hardest classes in my program wound up on my schedule at the exact same time, which didn't leave me much time at all to think about writing. Fortunately, that's behind me now, and I have the summer to try and pick up where I left off.
Book I, Part II: Mortal Conflict - The Zodiac Brave Story
Chapter XIII: State Of Affairs
[March 22, 2152 | Trabia Garden, Third Floor, Briefing Room | 11:00 AM]
It's only been a day since the attack at Garden, but I can tell that it's going to have longer-lasting repercussions than what I thought at first.
Stepping into the conference room's interior along with Yuna and Paine, I can see eight uniformed figures sitting at the large oaken table, with a screen behind them that's almost as wide as the wall itself. I only recognize two of the figures, those being Katanas and Albel, but figure that I'll be introduced to the others in a moment.
"These are the three?" an older man asks Katanas, who nods.
"Yes, Father," Katanas replies, causing me to realize who I'm looking at - namely, the Headmaster of the Garden, Darius Elric DeValle, Sr.
"Very well," the Headmaster says, nodding and turning to us. "Please have a seat."
The three of us take a seat across from the eight gathered Garden officials, and Darius Sr. begins to speak once more.
"As you may know, I am Darius Elric DeValle, Sr., the Headmaster of this Garden. This is Katal Corelia, the Majority Leader for Senatorial Hall; Katanas DeValle, the Garden SeeD Commander; Albel Nox, the current General of the Sphere, and the four Paladins of the Sphere - Ellie Night, Onimaru Balthas, Camdus Marché, and Anita Drake," he explains, gesturing to each person in turn. Taking in the introductions, I take a moment as the Headmaster pauses to look over each of the officers.
Ellie Night is a woman of average build, yet also appears to be quite fit for battle in both physical stature and personality. She seems to hold a demeanor of absolute calm and coolness about her as she sits at the table, her long black hair barely moving and her hands interlaced on the table. By contrast, Anita Drake is of a similar stature as Ellie, but seems a bit more relaxed, sitting calmly but casually at the table with her arms folded. Camdus is larger in frame than I am and clearly battle-honed; he also seems to be the type who is content to sit and listen, watching us with a calm yet welcoming expression. Onimaru, however, is the largest of the four, larger of stature than Camdus - with all of it appearing to be muscle. He reminds me a bit of Darius, sitting almost haughtily at the table with a slight smirk on his face.
"Pay attention, worms, because I'll only say this once. Nothing leaves this room on pain of death...and if it comes to that, death will be the least of your worries," Albel says, with a low voice more akin to a growl.
"In layman's terms, everything from this point on is considered classified," Katanas reiterates, glancing at Albel. "We'll begin the debriefing now. The current time is 11:00 AM, on the 27th of March in 2152."
"Please, state your name and rank for the record," Camdus says, glancing at the three of us. Each of us look to the others, and I decide to go first.
"Benji Powell, SeeD Cadet."
"Yuna Kaname, SeeD Cadet."
"Paine Zaraki, SeeD Cadet."
"Tell us what you saw when you arrived at the front gate, Cadet Powell," Ellie states, her voice just as warm as her demeanor: chilly.
"Okay...I got to the front gates and found four SeeDs with weapons drawn at Fayt, who had confronted me before, and some kind of monster that I didn't recognize. It looked like a demonic fiend called a Daeva, but it had the tentacles of a Malboro growing out of its back. Fayt started exchanging words with me, and the Daeva cast a Flare spell on the four SeeDs before I could react, then attacked me," I explain, working to remember all the details.
"This 'Fayt' you keep mentioning...you make it sound like a person," Ellie continues.
"Well, she is...I don't really know much about her, but she broke into Yuna's airship a few days ago and tried to kill me. Said something about 'I might get in her way,' and that she was a Pillar of Reality, whatever that means."
"And things just got complicated," I can hear Katanas mutter from his position, even as Onimaru starts to laugh.
"...You got beat up by a pillar. What kind of cadets are we training that get beat up by female cement blocks?" Onimaru says, chuckling, and I hear Anita stifle a laugh beside Camdus.
"It's...a little more complicated than that," Katanas interjects, looking to Onimaru. "Let me explain. Fayt is indeed a person...or rather, a goddess. One of three beings that form the very foundations of our reality, keeping it stable - hence the term 'Pillar of Reality.' They reside on a plane of existence higher than our own...the Ethereal Realm."
Darius Sr., Katal, and Albel seem mostly unaffected by Katanas' words, but the Paladins of the Sphere look surprised...and in Onimaru's case, even a bit skeptical. No one at the table speaks for several seconds, and the tension in the air seems to ratchet up a notch.
"So, let me get this straight. You're saying that you've been the target of an assassination attempt by aliens, and that the attack was another attempt at finishing the job."
Silently, I nod, not really knowing what else to do - after all, it seems to be the truth. Onimaru just scoffs.
"Ha! Ignoring the absurdity of truth, this all assumes that you, a freshly-minted cadet, is important enough to be targeted by a being that apparently holds the fabric of reality together!" Onimaru exclaims, seeming to be on the verge of another bout of laughter.
"Sir, with all due respect...from what I've seen of her and what she's said to me so far, I don't see any other explanation. I can't explain why she's targeting me, but I know that she is," I say, managing to retain my calm. Onimaru looks like he's going to say more, but Darius Sr. holds up a hand, silencing him before he gets the chance to say anything.
"That's enough, Onimaru. Let's move back to the matter at hand, shall we?"
"Thank you, sir," Anita says, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began. "Cadet Kaname, Cadet Zaraki. What led you to become involved?"
"We were waiting on Ben to get out of class," Yuna responds. "He was going to meet us near the front gates so that we could go have lunch once class was over. We were waiting for him to show up when all the commotion started, and we went to see what was going on."
"When we got there, we saw Ben looking like he was about to be gutted," Paine adds. "So, we helped him out."
"Why did you head to the front gate in the first place, Cadet Powell? I'm sure you heard the warnings," Ellie asks, causing me to mentally wince.
"I...don't know. Something was telling me that whatever was going on at the gate was Fayt's doing...and I didn't want her to try and come into the Garden to get to me. You saw the damage that creature caused - I thought that if she got into Garden, it would be a lot worse...so I thought that I'd try to keep the fighting on the outside of Garden to keep anyone from getting hurt."
Silently, I watch as the Paladins look at the rest of the gathered officers, but no one says anything further on the issue.
"I think that settles the matter," Katanas finally says, with slight nods from the others gathered at the table. "As a reminder, everything said here remains classified - no exceptions. Dismissed."
Quickly and quietly, everyone gets up from their chairs as Yuna, Paine and I begin to head out of the room.
"One more thing, Cadet Powell."
Ellie's voice stops me in my tracks, and I turn to face the officer.
"Ma'am?"
"You may do well to remember to follow warnings in the future, for the good of your future as a SeeD," Ellie says sternly, and I find myself swallowing the lump in my throat that had been building over the course of the briefing.
"...Yes ma'am."
Without another word, I turn and leave the room quickly, glad to be out of the debriefing before anyone else decides to mimic Ellie's approach to the matter.
[March 22, 2152 | Trabia Garden, Third Floor, Briefing Room | 11:19 AM]
Onimaru looked at Ellie with what could pass for a frown. "So, do you want to explain to me just why you didn't throw that kid in the brig?"
Ellie's eyes were as impassive as stone, looking directly into Onimaru's own. "Unlike some of us," she began, directing a pointed glare his way, "I actually believe my superior officer. Of course, if you want to dispute his claims or my actions, we could certainly take this up with the Ethics Committee."
"...I've better things to do than spend my time investigating fairytales," Onimaru huffed, before leaving the room. Ellie let a small smile cross her face, turning to Katanas.
"I assume you would've stopped me had you disagreed with my course of action, sir?"
"Of course," Katanas replied, smiling. "However, despite what Onimaru might think...the boy's actions, while out of line in a sense, were founded. And he was correct about one thing - if Fayt had entered the Garden, there could have been far greater danger than just three SeeD fatalities on our hands."
[March 22, 2152 | Trabia Garden, First Floor, Cafeteria | 11:56 AM]
Despite all the tenseness of the previous day, everything seemed to have returned to normal - and really, that was to be expected in an organization such as Garden. Gossip ran rampant through the cafeteria, Garden students and cadets alike flirted with people at their tables, and most importantly, people ate lunch.
Sitting at one of the center tables with a fair-sized crowd was Ein, laughing and smiling as the group around him seemed to compete with each other to entertain him. For his part, he was quite oblivious to it all, including some of the not-so-subtle looks a few of the female students were sending him.
One girl teasingly asked him if he was taken, earning quite a blush from the thirteen-year old boy, when a shadow fell over the table. All conversation ceased as Andréa cleared her throat, and Ein looked up to see his sister standing over the table, causing his eyes to brighten considerably.
"Andréa! You're finally back!"
His older sister just nodded, clearing her throat again as her smile became darker. The scuffling of chairs followed quickly, and seconds later, the table was vacated except for the two siblings. Andréa took a chair beside her brother, allowing her smile to soften a bit.
"I see you've become more popular since I left, hm?" she said after a moment, chuckling softly and leaving Ein beaming at the compliment.
"It got a little easier once they started talking to me," the boy replied. "I missed you, you know. How was the mission? You've been gone for months, so it must have been good."
"You might say that...it went well enough," Andréa said, standing up from her chair. "Let's head back to my room, and I'll tell you all about it." Ein looked a little surprised at the news, glancing at his sister even as he stood up with a look of confusion.
"I thought that the mission information was...well, classified?" Ein whispered, keeping his voice low. Andréa didn't say anything for a moment, remembering a conversation she had with Katanas before her mission began.
--Flashback--
"And, Andréa?" Katanas said, handing the younger SeeD a closed envelope with her name, SeeD ID, and other information on it.
"Sir?"
"Don't tell Ein until you get back, if you don't mind."
Andréa opened the envelope, beginning to read over the document inside...and frowned a minute later, looking back at Katanas. "Sir, this mission is classified. I can't tell him -"
"Consider this protocol a special exception," Katanas said, holding up a hand and politely interrupting the lieutenant. "Your brother has proven himself to be someone I can trust as my aide, so we'll let this one slide," he continued, smiling. Andréa paused, blinking, then nodded as a smile also crossed her face.
"Of course, sir."
--End Flashback--
"...Katanas said to consider you a special exception for this mission," Andréa finally answered, leading the way out of the cafeteria and towards the elevator.
[March 22, 2152 | Trabia Garden, First Floor, Lobby | 12:04 PM]
Normally, most people would assume that noon was the busiest time of day for most businesses and organizations. In most cases, they would be right. However, Trabia's curriculum, like those of the other Gardens and educational institutions, generally had most students and cadets either in class around the noon hour, or in the cafeteria getting lunch between classes. As such, it was very quiet as two figures stepped into the lobby of Trabia Garden, the one on the right yawning and turning to his companion.
"Have I mentioned that I hate trains?" Locke said with a smile. Angel smirked, glancing at the treasure hunter.
"Don't let Selphie hear you say that," Angel joked, as they stepped up to the receptionist's desk.
"Can I help you?" she asked, not even looking up from the computer she was busily typing away at.
"I'd like to register my friend here, miss..."
Angel paused for a moment, looking at the receptionist's nameplate, which read 'Rain Myers' in bold text.
"Miss Myers."
The receptionist paused for a moment, then reached down below the desk, pulling out a stack of several papers and handing them to Angel over the counter.
"Just fill those out, and bring them back here. There's also a late registration fee of 5300 Gil you must pay since you're over the deadline."
Angel nodded and took out his wallet, opening it and pulling four notes from the money within, handing them to Rain, who finally looked up at Angel.
"I don't handle that here. You'll have to go to the business office on the third floor to take care of the late charge," she explained. Once again, Angel nodded and handed the papers to Locke.
"Find somewhere where you can sit and fill those papers out, and I'll go up and take care of that fee of yours. Second floor should have some open classrooms you can use, if this Garden is like Balamb," Angel said.
"Thanks," Locke replied, following Angel towards the elevator. A flash of movement beside Angel caught his attention, and he glanced over as he walked to see Locke twirling a pen in his free hand.
"Did you take that?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I prefer to think of it as utilizing the Garden's materials," Locke said with a grin, prompting Angel to merely shake his head as they reached the elevator. "What? I'll give it back!"
With a press of a button, the doors opened as the duo walked inside, the elevator whirring to life as it rose towards the second floor.
[March 22, 2152 | Trabia Garden, Second Floor, Classroom 1-D | 12:30 PM]
"Ah, fair damsel, you have nothing to fear! I, Jaden Alexei Tsiolkovskyi the III, heir apparent of the noble House Barrows of Galbadia, have come to rescue you from mediocrity!"
Rikku, upon entering her Introduction to Magic History Class, a requirement for all SeeD cadets at Trabia, blinked.
"Um...do I know you?" she finally stammered after a long pause, staring at the male cadet in front of her. The boy appeared to be just older than Rikku, with blond hair drawn back into a ponytail and a fairly handsome face, along with dark eyes that were now focused on the SeeD cadet. Some of the female cadets in the room were giggling, apparently familiar with this particular cadet's mannerisms already. Smiling, he bowed with a flourish before meeting Rikku's eyes once more.
"I am but your most staunch admirer, a bystander enraptured by your great beauty-"
He seemed as though he'd say more, but the door behind Rikku opened again as the instructor, an older woman carrying two books under an arm, stepped into the room.
"Alright, children, have a seat. I hope you brought curative magic with you because if your wrists aren't complaining during this class, you haven't written enough notes," the instructor said with a smile. A universal groan sounded from all of the students in the room as they dragged out a notebook and pencil, listening as the instructor began their lecture.
An hour later, Rikku exited the classroom along with a crowd of other students, massaging her wrists - the instructor had been joking, but not much.
"It must be an exotic torture method to make a person write that much..." she muttered to herself, still rubbing her left wrist.
"She of fair eyes!"
Rikku mentally groaned - this again?
"My lady, permit me to walk you to a place of your choosing. Such beauty should not be without an escort in this day and age," Jaden intoned. Rikku blinked again, feeling just as confused as she had before class.
"Um...okay?" she replied, looking at the cadet with a slightly baffled expression.
'Guy's a little bit of a nut, but I guess he's a gentleman...'
Jaden just bowed graciously, his expression of happiness quite visible in his face as he stood straight again.
"I shall follow you until the very gates of Hyne's palace if I must!"
'Okay, more of a nut than I thought...or expected. That's not really necessary...' Rikku thought to herself, suddenly wondering if it was really a good idea to let Jaden escort her anywhere.
"Rikku!"
Ben's voice broke her out of her silence, and she felt a twinge of pain in her head as she glanced behind her to see Ben approaching her from down the hall.
"...Oh. Ben," she said, the acknowledgment coming out a bit more harsh than she'd intended.
"...Is something wrong?" Ben asked, glancing between Jaden and Rikku almost suspiciously.
"Nothing's wrong. We're just busy," Rikku began, cutting Jaden off before he could get a word out.
"Right," Ben said, his voice low. "How was class?"
"I'll tell you later. I told you, we're busy right now."
The sharpness of the comment startled Ben, who's eyes widened in surprise even as Rikku turned to Jaden.
"Jaden? Would you mind escorting me to the library? We've got a lot of notes to go over," Rikku said, not even pausing to say anything more to Ben as Jaden nodded, beginning to lead the girl down the hall. Ben couldn't do anything but watch in mute surprise as the two walked in silence, his feet seemingly rooted to the spot.
"...Did I miss something here...?" he finally managed to say, turning and walking back the way he came as his mind reeled with confusion.
[March 22, 2152 | Trabia Garden, First Floor, Andréa Beoulve's Room | 1:12 PM]
"Wow..."
That was really the only word that Ein Beoulve could get out as he finished listening to his sister's story. The mission she was sent on being a mission to go to another world to explore and find certain people? Ein found that incredibly inspiring, and not for the first time, he wondered about the limits of what his supervisor knew. Working under Katanas as the SeeD Commander's aide had let him see a lot of decisions that the older DeValle made, and Ein swore that on more than one occasion, the Commander seemed to act as if he knew things in advance that no one should.
Maybe it had something to do with the lady with white hair that often spoke with Katanas, Ein reasoned, but he didn't know for sure.
"Gaia to Ein," Andréa said, waving a hand in front of her younger brother's eyes. "Are you still with me here?"
"Sorry, sis," the younger Beoulve said, grinning sheepishly. "It's just...I wish I could go on a mission like that. It sounds so exciting!"
"You'll get your chance one day," Andréa replied, beaming. "I mean, you already work for the SeeD Commander...think about what you'll get to do when you finish your SeeD training and take the field exam." Ein nodded, still smiling at his sister.
"I know...I'll keep working hard at it, too!" he said firmly, causing Andréa to laugh as she reached over to tussle his hair. Ein managed to squirm out of her reach, reaching up with both hands to try and make his hair some semblance of neat again.
"Want some ice cream?" she asked, standing up and walking to the door to put her shoes back on. "My treat."
"Strawberry!" Ein answered, trying and failing to muss his sister's own hair up as she finished putting her shoes on, before abandoning the idea and leading the way out of the room.
You'll be seeing more mission briefings and debriefings in the future, with the next likely being the field exam.
Yes, I gave Yuna and Paine last names, mostly because the story called for it as I went through the first part of this chapter. Gasp shock! Rikku has one too, for the record. And speaking of names, Jaden's last name is pronounced "see-ol-kov-skee," for the curious - blame Iron Reaver for the grandiose and Russian sounding name.
Not much else to say besides the above. As always, please read and review.