18
CHAPTER 18 – THE BURDEN OF COMMAND
Quistis shot out of the dormitory hall and into the atrium. She'd been rudely awakened by the commandant's announcement to prepare for battle, prompting her to quickly get dressed in her casual-wear, and grab her whip and GF sphere before setting out. It seemed she hadn't been the only one. Dozens, if not hundreds of Balamb and Trabia students dashed about the walkways, perfectly resembling the mad scramble when the Garden had collided with Fisherman's Horizon. Most among them bore their own respective arms. As there was no telling exactly when Galbadia Garden would arrive, there had been an academy-wide order for all able-bodied students to keep them on their person at all times.
She darted her eyes all around the grand hall, straining to peer through the pandemonium for an opening. As she turned to the central platform, she spotted Squall; the white fur-trim of his black leather jacket popped out from the crowd as he stepped off the elevator. Xu was right by his side. Together, they took off down the west-bound steps for the quad. Quistis briefly considered following after; she'd already been assigned to the frontlines in the outer courtyards, anyway. As she took her first step forward however, she was abruptly sent falling to her hands and knees.
The tremor was massive, shaking the whole of the vast atrium around her. All other students across its breadth were thrown off balance. Their frenzied muttering swelled to a single, united cry of alarm. The massive pool of water spanning the hall sloshed, lapping up at the edges and spilling over onto a portion of the walkway. Quistis kept herself hunched forward on all fours until the rumbling ceased, and only then dared raise her head. She could only guess as to what might have caused it. Perhaps it had been an explosion, or even a direct collision with Galbadia Garden outside. Whatever the case, she couldn't afford to dawdle. As she fought to raise herself, a hand suddenly took hold of her arm to assist.
"Upsy-daisy!"
She turned to meet Irvine's blue eyes staring back at her. A scoped rifle was slung over his shoulder, freshly allotted to him from the Garden armory. She opened her mouth to thank him, when another, smaller tremor preemptively cut her off. It had come from above.
They both turned their eyes upward to the intertwining network of walkways stemming from the central pillar. All seemed normal, save for yet more students scurrying about to their positions. And yet, her ears soon told her otherwise; the whirring of turbine engines became more prominent by the second, echoing down through the hall. Three aerial mechs suddenly zoomed out of one of the upper floors. They swerved around the pillar in a tightly knit formation as they descended into the fray.
"Time to go to work!" Irvine exclaimed. He immediately ducked down, and rushed for the side of the walkway, propping his back up against it for cover.
Machine gun fire burst to life from above. Just as quickly, the expanse below lit up with dozens of blue flashes. Quistis followed suit, erecting her own energy barrier, and falling into position with Irvine. The sharpshooter took aim through his scope, trailing one of the three mechs. None appeared to pay them any mind, instead concentrating their fire on the swathes of students racing about the atrium's center. Return fire and spellcraft whizzed up at them from all around. Blasts of fire, lightning, ice, and concentrated dark gravity magic filled the air, all deftly evaded by the pilots.
Suddenly, a rocket was loosed from one of the mechs as it swooped down; it exploded on the section of the outer ring just before the training center, sending clustered students and debris flying into the pool below. Quistis paid little mind to the devastation. She instead put her focus on the mech in question, channeling her own energy through her arm. She raised it, aimed just ahead of where she expected the mech to cross, and let the ice blast fly through the air. It soared ahead to intercept the trooper in mid-flight. To her dismay, it passed just over top, and impacted on the central pillar.
Fortunately, Irvine's aim did not falter. The shot from directly beside her caused Quistis to jolt in place. A moment later, her alarm turned to relief as one of the mech's turbines started smoking. It veered sharply off course, wobbling unsteadily. The pilot couldn't recover before a fireball shot up from further along the walkway. It hit the mech dead on with enough potency to finish the job. It burst into flames, its wreckage scattering and falling into the segment of water between the cafeteria and quad entrances.
"Nice shot," Quistis praised Irvine.
"Never said I was all talk," he quipped, not taking his eye from the scope.
He'd completely dropped the twangy accent ever since that day. Odd as it was to hear him suddenly speaking so differently, she appreciated that he was finally being his genuine self. So too was Squall, as of late. For how fragmented their team had been in Deling City, rediscovering their childhood bonds had brought them all so much closer together.
Realizing it was no time to be dawdling, she turned her focus back to the confrontation. The second of the three mechs went down a ways on the other side of the atrium, courtesy of a lightning blast. It ultimately made no difference; three more suddenly zoomed into the fray just as quickly from the upper halls. The Garden's outer hull had clearly been breached. With no viable means of boarding the enemy Garden, it was Edea's forces who now held the advantage. As if to further reinforce the point, spellcraft suddenly began raining down from two of the newly arrived mechs. For the second time since Norg's insurrection, SeeDs and cadets on opposing sides would engage in combat to the death.
Quistis kept low, ducking out from cover to fire off a spell only when a mech drew comfortably close. More SeeDs and cadets continued to spill out of the dorm entrance behind, forcing her to keep hugging the side to avoid being trampled. Irvine kept taking pot-shots beside her all the while. Eventually, another mech went down, this time much closer; it nosedived straight into the waters between the dorm and parking garage walkways. No matter the ground combatants' efforts however, the aerial troops were too quick and nimble to reliably land a hit on. Indeed, Quistis began to suspect they might be purely diversionary; there was no telling how the teams out in the courtyard were faring. The sudden collision could well have been a harbinger of so much more.
As she mulled over the possibility, another zooming anomaly popped into the corner of her vision. It leapt over the cafeteria walkway from the direction of the quad, landing on the other side of the water. From there, it continued tearing atop the surface of the pool, kicking up a constant spray in its wake. Quistis poked her head further out to see. A burst of lightning shot into the air courtesy of the SeeD riding on the back, very nearly clipping one of the mechs. The pair were obviously no friends of the invaders. But more pertinently, they were friends of her own.
She stepped out of cover, and frantically waved the T-Board down as it rounded the bend. Zell noticed her immediately. He began drifting as he drew closer, swerving to an abrupt stop just beside the walkway. Selphie stumbled in place behind him; she very nearly tumbled straight off and into the water, saved only by her tight grip around his waist.
"What's the situation like out there?!" Quistis yelled over the crossfire.
"No time to talk!" Zell shot her a deadly serious stare. "Rinoa's in trouble! She's hanging off the edge of the Garden! We've gotta get back there and pull her up, fast! Can we use your whip?!"
Her eyes bulged. She hadn't said a word against Rinoa's insistence to get involved in the fight; what had happened back in Deling City made it clear she'd never take no for an answer, regardless. Much to her dismay, things had gone just as badly now as then.
"Then take me with you!" she volunteered. "Selphie, you stay here and back Irvine up."
"Rodger! And here!"
Selphie hurriedly dismounted the board, and maneuvered herself over the walkway banister. Reaching over her back, she drew her new pair of nunchaku, and extended them to Quistis.
"For more length," she clarified. "Just get her out of there, whatever it takes."
Quistis accepted the hefty metal bars without a word; she didn't need to be told. She surmounted the banister to take Selphie's place, wedged the nunchaku under her arm, and held on tight to Zell's midriff. As the T-Board swiftly kicked back into motion, she silently prayed they would make it in time. This wasn't the same as before, when she'd resigned herself to let Rinoa die for the sake of the mission's success. The girl had grown too dear to her heart, and doubtless to Squall's from what she'd gleaned. She was no longer a liability, but a comrade who'd put in the effort to fight alongside them in their most desperate hour. And more than that, a friend.
"What the hell was that?!"
The shout was just one of many from all around Squall; most blurred together into an indistinguishable cacophony. He darted his head about the hall. Every nearby SeeD and cadet looked shaken from the tremor, both figuratively and literally. It had been immense, perhaps rivaling that of the missile bombardment they'd barely escaped. It had forced him to his knees. Others had toppled over on the spot, achingly pushing themselves up from the floor. Fittingly, Xu was the first to recover.
"Probably our first collision," she answered; her tone seemed to imply it was only a minor inconvenience. "Didn't think we'd make it through this without at least a couple. It makes no difference. As long as this place is still standing, we fight. Come on, people, move it!"
The rest of the students hurriedly picked themselves back up at her command, scurrying down the hall in either direction. Squall fell back into formation with the commandant as they stormed ahead towards the quad. As the open portal at the end drew closer, so too did the sounds of warfare. He could see colorful trails of spellcraft whizzing through the air well before they reached the descending steps. When they finally did, the cause of the tremor became clear.
A massive divot had been punched through the quad's exterior wall. Jagged blue and silver steel jutted out on either side, while the concrete crumbled to naught as it dropped off to meet thin air. Galbadia Garden hovered dangerously close by on the other side. It gradually gave way to the surrounding mountain scenery as their own Garden began taking evasive action.
What remained of the quad had devolved into a warzone. Motorcycles roared across the expanse, snaking between the Garden operatives on the ground. Other soldiers had dismounted, opting to engage in close quarters combat. Above, just beyond the Garden's shattered rim, a squadron of aerial mechs were steadily approaching. Galbadia had already managed to successfully deploy their forces via ground and air within minutes of the engagement. Worse still, they'd anticipated and foiled the sneak attack from the Trabia ruins. The advantage was unquestionably theirs.
"You take the left flank," Xu ordered him. She drew her short swords just as a blue protective barrier flashed in front of her. "And keep your eyes on those mechs. I've got a feeling those aren't just soldiers flying up there."
Squall nodded. The rationale was clear: deploy the cyclists as the first wave to swarm the courtyards and send them scrambling, followed by the knights to level the offensive playing field. There was no doubt at least some of those encroaching mechs were former students, sworn to whatever twisted version of reality Edea and Seifer had fed them. A missile suddenly shot from one. It soared straight ahead, blasting a hole in the Garden's upper levels. In an instant, the outer defense had been rendered incapable of stopping the enemy's advance into the academy proper; there was no chance of picking off all the mechs while they were still preoccupied with the motorcyclists.
They've done their homework, alright.
Drawing his gunblade and enacting his own energy barrier, he charged down the steps side-by-side with Xu. They broke from each other at the bottom, tearing across the quad in opposite directions. Squall tried his hardest to blot out the roar of gunfire and clashing of steel; nearly 2 months removed from the Dollet siege, he was already plenty accustomed to the sounds. The revving of motorcycle engines were a new factor however. One ran across his path as he circled the ongoing commotion in the center of the quad. Its machine guns blared, the rounds pinging harmlessly off his conjured shield.
As it drew close, he deftly sidestepped, and swung his blade horizontally through the air where he'd just been standing. With a pull of the trigger, it sliced clear through the miniature windshield and sunk deep into the soldier's chest. He was violently flung backwards from the saddle. The motorcycle itself toppled and skidded across the ground towards the inner edge of the quad. Taking a quick glance around, Squall saw it was far from the first littering the battlefield. Further, a number of mechs had begun their descent into the fray. Bullets pinged off the shields surrounding their pilots, indicating they were indeed more than mere infantryman.
He kept on the move; idling in one place for too long could easily spell disaster. More motorcycles whizzed by all around, few coming close enough to him as he hugged the inside. What knights had landed were quick to engage with spellcraft of their own. Eyeing them from afar, they appeared to be outfitted in uniforms of charcoal black with red linings on their sleeves and collars. They were eerily familiar to Squall. He'd seen them worn before by the Galbadia Garden student body, during his group's short stay there. He could only guess what had become of them since Edea's takeover. In the best case scenario, they'd been rounded up and moved to an internment camp. He'd never been the optimistic sort, however. For as much as he'd changed since Rinoa and the others had come into his life, it was perhaps the one thing he could expect to stay the same.
As the knights entered combat, the cyclists began to fan out even further, likely to give them enough space to use their GFs without the risk of collateral damage. The SeeDs and cadets armed with sabers and melee weapons charged in on the spot; closing the distance would naturally remove such a buffer. Meanwhile, a familiar T-Board swiftly rounded the confrontation's center. Zell and Selphie rode atop, making a beeline back towards the atrium. Squall couldn't guess why, and neither could he afford to be hung up on it. He kept making his way around the perimeter, dispatching of whatever enemy troops crossed his path. Another motorcyclist and two ground troops soon met their end on his blade.
Though some mechs had stayed airborne in the general vicinity, others had trailed off in either direction along the outer courtyards. Still more had made their way further inside the Garden, courtesy of the holes blasted in its side further up above. However grim the circumstances already were, Squall knew the worst was yet to come. And then, with a flash of light, it came.
Though far smaller than the light that had heralded the phoenix, the aura hovering in the air above the battleground was no less brilliant. When it finally dissipated, the creature to emerge was anything but. Two large bat-like wings sprouted from its lean humanoid form. Its bare musculature looked to be wrapped in grotesque red sinew, offset by black scales like armor covering its arms, shins, and horned head. Its hands and feet were sharpened talons, its mouth a toothy maw. A devilish tail extended from its hind, swaying with each beat of its wings to hold itself aloft.
Just what we needed…
With a roar, it swooped down into the confrontation. The knights immediately disengaged, backpedaling out of harm's way. The lingering SeeDs and cadets were no match; bodies flew every which way as the devil tore through the front line. Squall looked on in horror, knowing there was nothing he could do to put a stop to its rampage. It was too swift and nimble to hit with a fireball, and its ability to fly put it out of his own GF's range. His only hope would be to deduce which knight was the summoner, and put them out of commission. They would likely be positioned somewhere near the back of the regiment. The devil's wild movement made it impossible to tell, regardless.
Focused as he was on the aerial assailant, he'd barely even noticed the second light aura building far on the opposite end of the quad. He finally turned his attention to it just before the GF materialized. A familiar angelic woman soared full-speed ahead through the air. She intercepted the devil in mid swoop, raking one of her claws across its scaly exterior. It shrieked as the strike connected, knocking it off balance. With a mighty beat of its wings, the wicked creature recovered. The angel abruptly went on the offensive in the time it took to swivel back around. It dodged out of the way of the first few, before countering with several swipes of its own. One connected, tearing a clump of golden feathers from the woman's flowing garb. She let out a cry of her own, far more bestial than her alluring appearance would have suggested.
The devil seized the opportunity to put some distance between them; it soared ever higher, coming to a stable hover roughly 50 feet in the air. It raised one arm above its head. A ball of dark energy began forming in its palm, swelling exponentially at a rapid pace. Seeming to recognize its potency, the angel raised her own claw. A blinding coagulation of holy spellcraft materialized just as quickly. Squall knew better than to stand idly by. He'd seldom seen a single Guardian Force exert so much power, let alone two going head to head. There was no telling the sort of devastation about to be wrought.
He ran for whatever cover he could find. It came courtesy of a pair of toppled motorcycles on the rim. He ducked behind, lay himself flat as he could, and barely peeked his eyes over. Other Balamb and Galbadian forces appeared to have come to the same conclusion, all hastily spreading out as far as they could from the center. He peered across to the other side of the quad, squinting through the glare to where he'd first seen the angel spring from. There, a lone SeeD stood her ground on the edge, focus trained forward with her short swords crossed together. Still, he couldn't deduce the devil summoner's position; virtually all the knights had cleared the area, with none remaining stationary.
To his alarm, the motorcycles he'd taken cover behind started to slide away from him. It was a testament to the building gravity well's strength, that it could affect them even from so high up in the air. He kept himself prone on the ground, not daring to move in any closer. Finally, the devil cast down its payload. The quad rumbled as the dark sphere fell to the ground. Its gravitational pull intensified, prompting Squall to grab hold of whatever he could to keep from being sucked in. The angel did not falter. She hovered steadily in the face of the assault, and unleashed her counterattack.
The blast of holy energy met the dark ball in mid-air. They collided and stalled out, neither giving an inch. Squall looked on in awe. Prior to his and Quistis' battle with Norg's leviathan, he never could have imagined two GFs coming to blows with one another. Even that had been nothing compared to the intensity of this clash. The light valiantly beat the darkness back, both energies intertwining, and seeping out from the point of impact. Only once the glare finally became too bright did Squall finally turn his eyes away, burying them in the ground.
He covered his ears as the explosion came; it just barely drowned out the beating of his heart in his ears. After several tense seconds, he raised his head again. Contained to the airspace above, there was little immediate destruction apparent in the quad proper. Both sides had already cleared the center well in advance. Several already loose shards of metal fell from the giant divot in the outer wall, and what bodies and wreckage already littered the battleground had been displaced but slightly by the blast. Otherwise, little had changed. Even the two GFs remained hovering in mid-air, seemingly unscathed by the resulting draw. And then, just as suddenly, the angel faded back into pure light, beginning to dissipate from the world.
Pushing himself back up, Squall turned his attention to where Xu had been standing moments before. His eyes went wide at the sight. His jaw fell open. His mind stalled to a halt. In an instant, he became totally numb to all else around him. The commandant had fallen to her knees. Her short swords lay upon the ground. Both her hands now clutched at her chest, where another, longer blade protruded from her uniform. The knight pulled it out from behind. She slumped forward, barely managing to throw her arms back out to keep herself from toppling over face-first.
Shit!
Before her attacker could raise his sword again for the killing blow, another pair of SeeDs piled on him from the side, forcing him away. And so, the battle promptly resumed among those still standing. Squall kept low to the ground behind the downed motorcycles, refusing to take his eyes from Xu. She fought to raise herself, bringing one hand up to cover the hole in her chest. His mind screamed for him to race to her side; he couldn't simply stand by and let the commandant be taken out of commission when they needed her most. And yet, as the devil swooped back down from the sky for another tear through the Garden forces, he knew it would be in vain. The creature's movements were too rapid, its strength too overwhelming. He desperately needed to locate the conjurer.
He finally turned back around, setting his sights on the nearest Galbadian troop along the rim. As he re-engaged, his mind flew through every possibility at hyper speed. Sustaining a summon for such a lengthy period required intense concentration, the likes of which couldn't possibly be maintained on the battlefield; doing so was liable to leave them open, just as Xu. They wouldn't have been able to stray far from the general area prior to enacting the summon. At the same time, they would have needed to keep adequate distance from the confrontation to avoid becoming an easy target. They'd certainly stayed far enough away to avoid being drawn in by the devil's giant gravity well. And yet, only the fallen lay still on the ground.
In a flash of intuition, he suddenly realized his mistake. He struck down another foe, this time a knight wielding a javelin, and once the coast was relatively clear, turned his eyes to the air. It took mere moments to find what he was looking for. A lone mech hovered above a short way from his position; it idled there, tucked against the inside of the quad. Squall could hardly believe it. The ploy had been so simple, yet so devious, and ultimately effective. He channeled the energy through his arm, raised it, and loosed a fireball from his palm. It soared straight ahead through the air, scoring a direct hit. The mech instantly tumbled in mid-air. It began to smoke as it suddenly dropped in altitude, trailing to the ground.
Squall did not stick around to see if the airborne knight would recover. Neither did he care. All that concerned him now was the brilliant flash of light as the devil fizzled out of existence. With the way cleared, he took off across the battlefield. He battered away what resistance he met, and before long made his way to Xu's position. She'd rolled over onto her back, with one hand held atop the stab wound to stop the bleeding. That she hadn't made use of her GF's healing powers to suture it must have meant she couldn't; she'd poured so much into the angel's energy blast already. He sheathed his gunblade, scooped her up in his arms, and carried her out of the confrontation, ducking every which way to avoid flailing weapons and whizzing spellcraft from all around.
He found refuge on the edge of the quad, beside a patch of bushes. He carefully laid the commandant down, propping her back up against the wall just behind. Her breathing was labored, her eyes strained as she fought to raise them to him. Never could he have imagined the chief officer of SeeD looking so helpless. He briefly turned his attention back to the battlefield. Out of nowhere, the T-Board had zoomed back into the fray. It swerved around the outside, en route to the shattered exterior wall. To his dismay, it was now Quistis who rode behind Zell.
Dammit, where's Selphie when you need her?!
"Nice… hustle…"
He turned back to Xu. Her eyes were dilated and, despite her grave condition, strangely content. They showed not an inkling of fear, but rather overwhelming pride. Achingly, she reached her free hand down to her belt, unclipping the still-active GF sphere. The light seeping out shone as radiantly as Selphie's, albeit from the standard silver casing.
"I've had this… for 9 years," she eked out. "From the… first year they were brought to Balamb Garden. I remember… I thought I was invincible, as long as I had its power. If only I'd known this is how it would end. But… how could I? There was no other army in the world like us."
"Don't say another word!" Squall urged her. "Save your strength, because I'm going to save you."
"You already have."
Her words came to him in a hoarse whisper; he could barely make them out with the battle still raging on. Even as her voice faltered however, her stare did not.
"That speech you gave that day… I never told you how much of an impact it had on me. It reminded me of the day I graduated, and what being a SeeD really meant to me. I... must have lost sight of that somewhere along the way. When I became commandant, and learned Norg had been running things all along… I just accepted it was all about the money. That it had always been from the start. But now… I know it doesn't have to be that way. We can be a force for change instead. You're the one who made me realize that, Squall. It's why I knew… you'd be the perfect successor. It's why I can die now, without regrets… knowing I gave my life for something I believed in."
Squall was stunned. He hadn't even noticed she'd moved her sphere to his palm until she brought her other hand up to clasp his fingers around it. She kept her eyes locked to his. Her lips wearily drew up into a strained smile.
"It's in your hands now… Commandant," she weakly groaned. "Win this fight… for all of us…"
With one last breath, her eyes fluttered shut. Her hands went limp, letting go of their grip on his own. Her head slumped down, as if into slumber. With a heavy heart, Squall realized it was one she would never wake from. Xu Adrastia, 4th Commandant of Balamb Garden, master of holy spellcraft, had fallen in the line of duty. The head officer of SeeD, who'd taken him under her wing, now lay lifeless against the quad's rim. Her final words still lingered with him well after she'd departed; he'd never realized just what an impression he'd truly made on her that day.
The notion was too much to process, the urge to shed tears over it barely containable. He held them back regardless; he knew now was not the time to become swept up in the raw emotion. Whether or not Selphie could do anything for her now, he needed to organize his retinue, and come up with a new plan of action. He couldn't let Xu's sacrifice be in vain. He powered down the holy sphere, stowed it in his jacket pocket, and raised himself from cover behind the bushes. He took one last look down at the fallen commandant, noting just how content her face still looked even in death.
Xu… we will win this fight. I swear it…
He tore around the rim to Zell and Quistis' position. They'd dismounted the T-Board to stand on the lip of the great divot in the outer wall. The former instructor stood with her attention turned to the confrontation, firing ice blasts at any who drew near. She pivoted at his approach from the side, training her outstretched palm to him. She suddenly relaxed as she realized who it was.
"What's the situation?" Squall asked. "Where's Selphie?"
"With Irvine in the atrium," she answered. "Give Zell a hand, will you? Rinoa's hanging off the Garden down below!"
"What?!"
He cast his bulging eyes past her to where Zell was hunched over by the edge. He looked as if he were fishing. What accounted for a rod was one end of a sterling pair of metal nunchaku. The other end was tied together with Quistis' whip, dangling over the steep drop where the ground gave way. Squall bolted forward to his side, and looked down. There, far below, Rinoa hung from a thick black wire burrowed into the Garden's exposed foundation. The whip's leather handle was still well out of her reach.
"What the hell happened?!" he roared to Zell.
"How about we let her fill you in?!" the blonde shot back. "How strong is your jacket?"
Squall hurriedly slipped it off without argument. Rinoa must have been hanging on for some time now, at least since he'd noticed Zell and Selphie making a beeline for the atrium. There was no telling how much longer she could hold out, much less if Galbadia Garden moved in for another collision. He quickly tied one bulky leather sleeve to the end of the nunchaku bar, praying the crescent moon jutting out would catch it if his knot came undone.
Together, he and Zell moved it hand over hand, lowering the lifeline further down to Rinoa. He glanced over the edge. Closer and closer the whip crept, to where it was just a short ways above her. She carefully reached up with one hand, but to no avail; the handle was still just too far out of reach.
"Just a little more!" he called back.
Hunched so far down, and pushed so close to the edge, there was little slack left to their makeshift rope. And then, suddenly, there was no more need. Rinoa leapt up, grabbing hold of the whip with one hand. Squall was so shocked, he nearly lost his own grip on the jacket as her weight suddenly started pulling the line down.
"She's got it!" he corrected himself. "Heave!"
Zell followed suit behind him. They both tugged with all their might, Squall desperately praying he wouldn't feel the weight give way. As they drew Rinoa up the cliff-side, the mighty leap she'd made for the whip handle replayed in his head. It had been a very agile one, surely requiring much more upper body strength than she had to hoist herself into the air. Squall doubted even he could have managed it without wind propulsion via his GF.
Did she…?!
He'd briefly touched on the basics of wind conjuration during her first two weeks of training. The basis of the instruction had been on channeling the energy into her legs, which she'd been unable to pick up on. Doing so through her arms would have naturally come easier, and even more so now, after sufficient practice with her own native element. There was realistically no other way she could have cleared the gap just then.
As Rinoa finally surmounted the lip and crawled onto the pavement, she shot him a beaming smile. The girl he'd rescued from the lizard creatures in Deling City had been a sniveling wreck by comparison. Learning to fend for herself had clearly made her stronger; she'd gained not only the skill, but the resilience needed to survive. Perhaps he'd underestimated her determination after all.
"This is no time to be standing around!" Quistis exclaimed. "Let's move!"
Squall recognized her point. Though much of the fighting had moved inward, as Edea's forces continued pushing their way towards the atrium, the quad was still very much a warzone. He, Rinoa, and Zell all followed her lead across to the other end, the blonde breaking stride only to scoop up his T-Board. Thankfully, she'd elected to head in the opposite direction from where Xu's body now lay; he had no desire to subject her to yet more grief without good reason. They took cover behind a cluster of discarded motorcycles and mechs, ducking down low to minimize themselves.
Another earthquake struck before any of them could get a word out. The tremor was less severe than the one that had bored a hole in the side of the quad, albeit still potent enough to topple them to their knees. Squall raised his eyes as he fought to regain balance. Galbadia Garden still loomed over the outer walls, this time closer to their rear, between the cafeteria and dorms. The navigation crew were clearly attempting to reorient their position, at the cost of taking on another glancing blow.
Looks like we weren't a moment too soon with Rinoa…
"Those fuckers keep bashing us like a punching bag!" Zell blurted out as he rose.
"How are things on the inside?" Squall half-yelled over the ongoing battle. He quickly untied his jacket from the nunchaku/whip hybrid, and slipped it back on.
"Not good," Quistis grimly replied. "They've breached the upper levels. There's too many avenues for them to attack from now. We're not going to last at this rate. One more wave, and we might be finished."
Maybe we should have focused on attacking from the beginning instead of concentrating on our defense…
"Squall, now's not the time to be stuck in your head!" Rinoa cut in.
"We need to launch a counterattack, and take out Edea," he obliged her. "Cut off the snake's head, and the body dies. I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, but there's no other way. Taking the fight directly to her might our only chance now."
"And how the hell are we supposed to get aboard?!" Zell asked incredulously.
Squall simply pointed to the T-Board still clutched in his hand.
"You're sick of them ramming us? Then let's give them a taste of their own medicine. Rinoa, you're with me. You two round up the others, and prepare to deploy out through that hole. We'll charge them head on, and bank left before impact to give you a clear shot over."
"Not sure if you've noticed, but it's only got room for two!"
"Then take a look around. There's plenty to choose from."
Squall swept his hand in a semi-circle, indicating the plethora of abandoned hovercrafts and motorcycles. Most of the fallen troops still wore parachutes strapped to their backs, yet to be engaged in light of a successful deployment.
"Quistis, I take it you and Selphie can provide buffering once you've touched down?"
"If need be," she answered; her voice expressed little enthusiasm at the proposition. "Still, shouldn't you run all this by the commandant first?"
A pang shot through Squall's heart. He pondered for the briefest moment whether or not to tell her, before realizing there was nothing to gain from it. Time was ticking.
"These are the commandant's orders," he told her. Much to his own disbelief, it wasn't a lie. "Be ready in ten. Now, move out!"
The three obeyed, falling in after him. Drawing his gunblade, he took point as he led the charge back in the direction of the atrium. He circled the rim to the steps, cutting down any foe in his way with relative ease. Zell and Quistis zoomed ahead of him on the T-Board, veering around friend and foe alike. To his relief, there had been no more summons conjured by either side. Better still, reinforcements had arrived to bolster the entryway defenses; their straight shot through would be all the more manageable. He ascended the stairs in short order, with Rinoa trailing close behind.
"We're not just letting them go in on their own, right?" she asked along the way.
"One step at a time."
He hoped to reassure himself as much as her. Beyond the safety of his closest comrades, the fate of the Garden and SeeD as a whole now rested on his shoulders. His worst nightmare had become reality. The burden he'd hoped never to bear was finally his, well before the time he'd been promised. Its severity became all the more clear as he emerged back into the atrium. The lay of the land was nearly unrecognizable; major sections of the walkways were upended, the debris littering the waters all around. Legions of students were spread about, unloading weapons' fire and spellcraft up at a formation of mechs whizzing through the air. A missile rained down from one, impacting on the neighboring walkway to the infirmary. Bodies flew wildly in its wake.
Squall didn't slow. He charged straight for the steps, deftly maneuvering around everyone in his path. He only glanced back once he'd reached the elevator. To his relief, Rinoa had managed to keep up. They filed into the nearest capsule together. As he waved his clearance card over the scanner and jammed the button for the top floor, he gazed back out at the commotion. Knights and soldiers had begun storming in from the cafeteria, cementing Galbadia's foothold in the Garden.
"You know something?" Rinoa suddenly spoke to him as the door slid shut. "I couldn't afford to fall off that cliff and die. I have something important that belongs to you."
He spun back around as the lift began to rise. His jaw dropped the instant he noticed the ring she was holding up. It ran through a slim chain around her neck, the same that had formerly carried a plain silver band. The one in its place was engraved with a roaring lion's head.
"Zell gave it to me," she explained. "I've been holding onto it. For good luck."
I'm going to kill him…
"That's my favorite ring," he hinted.
"I'd say so. You've always got it on. That and your pendant. Everything's about lions with you, isn't it, Squall?"
"Lions are known for their great strength and pride. It's a symbol of what I've always aspired for. To have a strong heart… like Matron told me to, so long ago."
The memories, once so hazy, were now clear. He could perfectly recall the pep talk Edea had given him after Ellone's departure. For however askew he'd gone over the years, her encouragement then was what had kept him pushing forward. Indeed, as a child, he'd never stopped to ponder why he'd been given the surname 'Leonhart' after being enrolled in the Garden. It must have been her doing. And yet, despite everything she'd done for him and the others, it was now his sworn duty to defeat her. He well and truly understood how Irvine must have felt that night in the city.
"I see," Rinoa muttered. She kept her eyes fixed to the ring. "You know, Zell promised he'd make me one exactly like it. And then… maybe I could become like a lion, too. Wouldn't that be crazy, huh? I mean, everyone might, y'know… get the wrong idea about us."
If it's so crazy, why do you sound so delighted? Everyone's trying to get us together. It's so obvious even I can tell…
"Well, Squall… you're one of the strongest people I know. You give me the confidence to fight. You're the reason I'm sure everything will turn out alright in the end."
"Don't speak too soon," he urged her.
The elevator doors opened as they reached the top floor. He stormed ahead into the bridge, setting his sights on the command center high above. To his surprise, the headmaster stood among the navigation crew up top; he'd previously resigned himself to staying holed up in his office. Squall took hold of the rungs, and quickly ascended to their level. Cid's eyes lit up behind his glasses as he pulled himself over the lip.
"How are things downstairs?" he nervously asked.
"Our defense is barely holding," Squall answered. "They're already pushing their way into the atrium. We'll need to go on the offense to have any hope of victory now. My team's standing by. I'm sending them aboard, to take the fight to Edea. Everyone, keep pulling away! We're going to circle back around, and ram them along the starboard side!"
"Are you sure about this?" Cid spoke for the rest of the crew. "Have you discussed this with Xu? Where is she right now?"
"She…"
Still, he dared not admit it, even to the headmaster. He could accept the reality of her demise, however difficult it was. What he couldn't yet were the ramifications it carried. Cid however seemed to understand well enough without him saying a word; his wrinkled face turned dour, his eyes now tinged with sadness.
"I'm sorry," he finally said. "May she rest in peace. It falls to you then, Squall. The fate of this Garden is in your hands. You heard him, everyone! Pull away, and prepare to ram along the starboard side!"
The crew stayed the course as instructed. They swung further out along the Bika Snowfield to put as much distance between them and Galbadia Garden as possible. Squall turned his attention from the window to Rinoa beside him. Her face was fraught with concern at the sudden turn of events.
"Thought I'd be able to ease into the job, huh?" he joked.
"I… guess not," she muttered. "Still, I believe in you, Squall. I'll follow your lead every step of the way."
Well, that makes one of us…
"Squall," Cid addressed him again. "You're forgetting something very important."
He turned to the headmaster at the fore of the command deck. He held up the intercom receiver in one hand, beckoning him over with the other.
"Talk to your troops. Tell them to prepare for the incoming collision. And more than that, encourage them. Let them know this fight isn't over yet. As the acting commandant, it's your duty."
Squall hadn't forgotten. On the contrary, he'd been dreading the inevitability from the moment Xu had passed him the title. But what could he possibly say to them? He'd only just been named her successor 3 weeks prior, and earned his standing as a SeeD barely a month before that. Things had progressed too far, too fast, leaving him without any experience by which to command the army. His heart raced in his chest. His eyes began watering. His mouth had gone completely dry. The responsibility was simply too much for him to bear. Just when he thought he might pass out, a gentle hand clasped itself on his shoulder.
"I haven't been living here that long," Rinoa softly spoke to him. "I don't know what kind of reputation you had before all this. But I know how it's been ever since you got the promotion. I heard them talking about you everywhere for those few days after; in the cafeteria, out in the courtyards, even just passing by in the halls. Everybody in this Garden looks up to you, Squall. They like you. They know you have what it takes to lead them. And so do I."
The sincerity in her words stunned him. Though he'd never been the trusting sort, he knew in his heart she had no reason to lie to him. Slowly but steadily, all the uncertainty faded away, and in a rare moment of clarity, he finally found the courage to close the door on his old ways. His mind flashed back to the evaluation printed on his field exam results: 'inclination towards a role of leadership', it had read. He'd been running from his destiny ever since, living in fear of failing to live up to whatever responsibility came with it. And yet now, in their darkest hour, he could no longer ignore its call. His time had come.
He strode forward to meet the headmaster, accepted the receiver from him, and clicked the switch on the nearby console. The 4-tone chime rang through the hall. He sucked in a deep breath and, just as he had at Fisherman's Horizon that day, began speaking from the heart.
"To everyone who can hear this… this is Commandant Squall Leonhart. That's right, Commandant. Things are looking pretty dire right now, aren't they? Most of you are probably too caught up in the fighting to pay any attention to this, but I'm asking you to please try as hard as you can. We still have a chance to win this fight. To do that, we're going to head straight into their Garden, so I want everyone to prepare for a major collision. Zell, Selphie, Quistis, and Irvine, standby for deployment. All students assigned to the junior classmen and staff, hold your position. Everyone else, keep up the fight for as long as you can.
"One way or another, this is going to be our final battle. SeeD was formed to combat the sorceress… or at least, that's what I've been told. That being the case, this battle is Balamb Garden's ultimate destiny, and our own. So, just this once, I want you guys to give it everything you've got! For yourselves, and for me! I don't want anyone to look back and regret this day! Stand strong, hold the line, and I promise you… we will win!"
He clicked off the intercom and set the receiver back in its slot. Through the window before him, Galbadia Garden had come back into full view, its sleek red body fully lit up by the morning sun. All was set for their last desperate charge to commence. On cue, the same familiar hand clamped back down on his shoulder.
"You see?" she smiled. "I knew you had it in you, all along."
He was unsure how to respond to the praise. A flat dismissal had been his usual go-to for as long as he could remember. Those days were behind him.
"Thank you," he replied instead. "Now, let's see how they like being on the receiving end. Charge!"
"Man's got some balls," Irvine quipped.
For how impressed he'd been by Squall's speech at Fisherman's Horizon, the address he'd given over the intercom was every bit as impactful. To say he'd come a long way was an understatement; he'd seemingly progressed more in the last 6 weeks than in all the years since they'd been together at the orphanage. Clearly, the decision to name him next-in-line had been the right one.
"Behind every great man is a great woman," Selphie chimed in. With the immediate area clear, she sidled herself onto the rear of the motorcycle.
"Yeah, I guess so. I know I'm glad you've got my back right now."
"You betcha!"
With the enemy's continuing advance into the atrium, the battle in the quad had moved up the steps and down the connecting hallway. At Quistis and Zell's behest, he and Selphie had circled back through the dorms' side entrance, and around the connecting courtyards. In the meantime, they'd gone ahead on the T-Board to make preparations. They'd been waiting on the quad's outer rim with a motorcycle and set of parachutes by the time they arrived. There, they'd finally explained the plan. Irvine could hardly believe Squall, usually so reserved and level-headed, would resort to such a reckless charge into the enemy Garden. But then, as things stood, there truly was no other option. The determination in his voice moments ago was obvious enough.
Zell and Quistis idled beside them on the T-Board, the latter keeping her attention trained to the fighting atop the stairs. Bodies littered the ground all across the quad; there would be barely enough room to maneuver themselves from the rim to the blown-apart wall. Other upturned motorcycles and a handful of abandoned mechs lay among them. The top of Galbadia Garden peeked over due south, just beyond the infirmary block. Apparently, Squall's plan was to swerve in along the side, knocking the Garden off kilter and providing them the opportunity to soar on over. Despite the boosters strapped to the bike, he still had doubts about its practicality. Even the parachutes on his and Selphie's backs weren't enough to reassure him. Though using the mechs would put them at less risk, neither Irvine nor anyone else among them had ever piloted one before. Time was of the essence. There was none to be wasted on figuring out their controls, least of all when they could be easily picked off in mid-flight.
"Hey, listen," he broke the silence between them. "This is gonna get pretty dicey, so… I just want you to know, I'm really happy I got to meet you again after all these years. I've got no regrets."
"Don't start talking like that!" Selphie insisted. She gave him a playful slap on the back. "We're gonna get through this! You'll see!"
"I sure hope so. Either way, it's just something I've wanted to tell you for all this time. Seemed like I'd never get the chance for a while, with you and the others forgetting everything. I just figured it's now or never. Whatever happens, I'm so glad to have you back in my life, Selphie. And if we make it through this… when we make it through this… I'll be sure to let you know it every day."
"Same," she agreed, wrapping her arms around his torso. "I'm never letting go of you again, Irvy."
"Well, I guess we're gonna put that to the test right now!"
The Garden began to turn. His former home towered right beside, now clearly visible through the tremendous gap in the wall. Irvine revved the motorcycle with one hand, the thumb of his other hovering precariously over the booster ignition. Closer the side of Galbadia Garden drew, to where he could just barely glimpse a section of the outer courtyards on its edge. Several of the many flower beds where he would traditionally lounge had been uplifted along with the rest of the academy. The surrounding walls were significantly more stout than Balamb Garden's, whereby they'd once offered an open view of the Monterosa Plateau all around. Alas, there was no time for nostalgia.
Giddy-up!
He floored the accelerator. The rear tire screeched as it whirled in place, burning rubber on the asphalt. The bike then shot forward with a sudden lurch, tearing across the battlefield. He didn't risk a glance to see how Zell and Quistis were faring; he was too focused on threading a line through the surrounding carnage. At last, the collision came just before they reached the edge. He engaged the boosters the moment the front tire left solid ground. They soared through the air, now completely at the mercy of gravity. Time slowed. Selphie's grip around his midriff stayed tight as his own on the handles. He couldn't breathe. He wouldn't dare to.
Before he knew it, they'd hit solid ground again. The bike slammed down hard on the outer grounds. It wobbled unsteadily, partially owing to his sheer surprise. He lost control, and tumbled off with Selphie. Still, she refused to let go. They groaned and grunted together as they hit the grass, Irvine taking the brunt of the blow. With the adrenaline still rushing through his nerves, the pain barely registered to him. He lay there in amazement for a short while.
As opposed to him, Zell had somehow managed to stick the landing on his T-Board. The motorcycle now lay atop a nearby bed of flowers, having churned up much of the soil following his wipeout. Feeling Selphie finally crawl off his back, he achingly flipped himself over. She just as quickly pinned him again before he could rise.
"Told ya so!" she beamed down at him. Despite their latest brush with death, her smile stayed brilliant as the rising sun.
"That was the easy part," he smiled back.
"Hey, lovebirds!" Zell called to them. "Let's win this fight before you start rolling around in the grass, huh?"
Selphie's face went flush at the comment. Even without a mirror, Irvine knew his must have looked the same. He motioned for her to get off. She acceded, allowing him to rise. Together, they fell in after their comrades. As they took their first steps forward, Irvine realized they were the final few towards a confrontation more grueling than any they'd faced before. And yet, no matter the hardships ahead, whether physical or emotional, they couldn't afford to fail. The fate of the world now lay in their hands.