Not So Simple Missions Chapter 2
Explosion!
By Holly Clarke
Paige Sheldon looked at her watch. She had exactly four minutes to put on her Balamb Garden uniform and get to the front gate. Time just wasn't going her way today. Paige jumped into her uniform and ran out the door, pulling on her navy blue knee-high boots as she ran. By the time she reached the front gate, she was completely out of breath and her patience was running short.
Paige was a 16-year-old student at Balamb Garden who had been there since the age of fourteen. She had parents back in Dollet who loved her very much, but really didn't understand her. Her older sister, Laney, said all the right things and was well spoken and polite and perfect, and Paige wasn't any of those things. She said what she was thinking without reservation, never once thinking about how stupid she'd sound or how people would take what she was saying. She had a fairly short temper and was very stubborn as well. After raising a daughter like Laney, Paige must have been quite a shock. Upon hearing about Balamb Garden, Paige immediately filled out an application. Not surprisingly, her parents couldn't understand why she would ever want to go to a military academy, but after very little persuasion on her part, they'd allowed her to go. Paige guessed that they didn't need much convincing because then they would get rid of her in a way that made it look like they didn't really want to get rid of her, but just let her go where she wanted to go. Although it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that Paige got to be in Balamb Garden, and in the two years she'd been there, she never once regretted coming.
Paige passed her SeeD written test last week, and did her prerequisite two days before. And now here she was at the front gate, with her boots only halfway on her feet, waiting for Quistis to explain the assignment.
Quistis cleared her throat and placed her glasses on her face. She stared at her clipboard for a few moments before she began to speak. "Everyone is here?" she looked around, obviously searching for absent faces. She must not have found any because she looked back at her clipboard and gave out the group assignments.
"I'm sorry these are kind of last minute, but I had a little trouble placing some of you..." She rattled off the list. "Squall's squad, the battle squad one - Paiten Kelloway, Logan Price, and Leigh Gipelli. Rinoa and Zell's squad, battle squad two - Rebecca Underhay, Joshua Simms, and Joseph Harley. Selphie's squad, the messenger squad - Riley Lynch, Remy Quinlin, and Paige Sheldon. And Irvine's squad, the information squad - Haleigh Labelle, Justin Alliaria, and Samantha Bridges. Got it?"
Paige nodded, along with the others. She caught Irvine's eye and smiled. She and Irvine were pretty good friends. He was so easy to joke around with and was always so nice to her. Plus, she really loved his cowboy's hat and his long ponytail, it set him apart from other guys.
Paige went to her squad along with Riley, Remy, and Selphie. "Selphie?" she thought. Although she'd never really met her, Paige knew that she was supposed to be a lot of fun, and also Irvine's girlfriend. Paige smirked. If Selphie was the insecure type, Paige would be able to have quite a bit of fun with her.
Squall got his squad together. "Okay, you guys," he told them, "Quistis says we're supposed to go on ahead and see that is happening down there. She believes you guys are the highest trained in battle. We're to see how tough these monsters get, and to do that we have to find the core. The messenger squad is going to be in contact with us. Ready to go?"
The members of his squad - Paiten, Logan, and Leigh - nodded. Paiten was a medium-height girl with her dark blonde hair tied in one long braid down her back, and a pair of daggers for her weapon. Logan had jet-black hair and used gloves, like Zell. He was also medium height and he seemed very calm and grounded. Leigh was tall and had long, dark hair that she'd put in a simple ponytail and dark eyes to match. Her weapon of choice was a sword, but with a long, hooked end. Quite an assortment.
Squall led the way, with his squad not far behind. As he mindlessly trudged through the open terrain toward the Balamb train station area, he found himself thinking.
He wondered, as he did quite often, why people put up with him for all this time. True, he wasn't as rude as he once was, but before.... he crushed all their hopes, he gave nothing but one-word answers, he pushed them away countless times....
And they still cared. They still watched his back, included him in events, tried to cheer him up, and they never gave up trying to get through to him. It amazed him how they could all have so much patience. Especially Rinoa. Even now, she never lost patience when he wasn't listening to her, or acted less than thrilled to see her, or...
"Oh, my God! Get down!" Paiten yelled suddenly.
Squall was so lost in thought that he didn't see the explosion coming.
.
Selphie, Riley, Paige, and Remy were sitting in a wide-open space, halfway between the Garden and the train station area, when their radios began to crackle.
"Messenger squad..." said a high-pitched voice she didn?t quite recognize, "It's Battle Squad One, it's Paiten...."
"We have to get this thing up so we can give them a response!" Selphie said, more to herself than anyone else. Paiten sounded absolutely frantic.
"Messenger squad! Dammit, is this working? Come on!" There was then a lot of static and a different voice came over the receiver.
"Messenger squad? Selphie? Are you there?"
'Online,' read the screen. "Thank God," Selphie whispered, then, louder, said into the receiver, "Yeah we're here! What's going on?"
"This is Logan," said a surprisingly calm voice, especially compared to Paiten's urgent cry a moment before. "We don't know what happened. There was this huge explosion coming from some area with a blue light near the train station... and Squall and Leigh... Leigh is right here, but she's unconscious, and we don't have a clue where Squall is, he must have gotten blown away with the explosion..."
Selphie's hand automatically flew to her chest. "Oh, dear God... Logan, you try to find Squall okay? And tell Paiten to look after Leigh. We're going to send for reinforcements... and send the rest of the candidates back to safety."
"Will do, Selphie, thanks."
Selphie put her head in her hands. Didn't Quistis say there wasn't much danger involved with this mission? Didn't she say this was a mission that would be easily handled by SeeD candidates? She dialed Quistis and the others who were still waiting at the front gate.
"Quistis, come in. This is bad...."
.
Quistis ended the connection with Selphie in shock. By instinct she looked over at Rinoa, whose face was snow white. She was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs.
"You guys... you forget that we are talking about Squall. He'll be fine.... he's pulled through things much worse than this before," Quistis said reassuringly, not sure if she was convincing them or herself. "So don't worry yourself about him. Right now, the issue is your safety. So the four of us - Irvine, Zell, myself, and Rinoa if she feels up to it - are going to go and check this out. You guys go back to Garden. Haleigh... I?m going to give you the responsibility of reporting all this to Headmaster Cid. Tell him we will try to get in tough as soon as possible, okay?"
Haleigh nodded, and with that, the six SeeD candidates, who had been so hopeful and energetic at the beginning of that very day, walked back to Garden as if each of their feet weighed a thousand pounds.
Quistis looked around at her comrades. She noticed Rinoa was still there. "Rinoa... are you sure you want to come?"
Rinoa looked at her as if to inquire how Quistis could even ask such a question. "If Squall is missing," Rinoa stated, her voice flat, "I will find him."
"Very well." Quistis drew in a shaky breath. "So... I guess we should go find Selphie and the others. Zell, Irvine, grab the tents and things, just in case. We don't know what we could be in for."
.
Riley looked at Selphie, who was pacing frantically back and forth. He noticed her hands were shaking and that she kept running then through her hair so that it was sticking out in a thousand different directions. She must have seen Riley staring at her because she sat down.
Riley ran a hand through his own hair, which was short and dark blonde, and glanced at Paige, who was looking at Selphie with an amused expression and twirling her deep purple hair around her finger. He then looked at Remy, who was sitting silently on the ground and staring at his feet.
Riley himself wasn't worried. He felt void of all emotion. He wasn't really worried, because Squall seemed to be the type of person that you couldn't keep down for too long. He wasn?t scared, because not only was he far away from the explosion site but he thought it would be rare to have another explosions following the first. If anything he was anxious to do something. Riley was the type of person who always needed to be doing something, and never to be standing still.
Riley wasn't shy, nor was he rude. He just didn't like to say anything unless he had something important to say. He was a disciplined young man. at seventeen, he'd been more places than most adults. He was raised in a high-class family from Deling City who took day trips to different parts in the world just to keep up appearances.
Originally a member of Galbadia Garden, Riley disagreed with their views on the world and transferred. Although Balamb Garden didn't take many student from Galbadia, his parents had, as usual, used their money to make it worth their while. Although Riley didn't publicly announce his family's status he had to admit it came in handy at times.
All of a sudden Selphie jumped up and ran. Riley shielded his eyes against the sun and looked in the direction in which she was running. Four figures were walking their way. He watched as Selphie jumped into the tallest person's arms and laid her head on his chest. Had to be Irvine.
As they came closer, Riley could recognize them as Quistis, Zell, Irvine, and a very distraught-looking Rinoa.
"How are you guys?" Quistis asked. Because you would probably be better off going back to Garden."
"I want to stay here," Riley told them, surprising them and himself. "I want to go with you and see what happened." Things like this had always intrigued Riley. He loved seeing why things happened and how things worked. But he rarely spoke up and they all seemed surprised to see him speak.
"Riley, I really think it'd be best..." Quistis started.
"I'm staying too," Paige cut in. She looked at Selphie and Irvine, and then at Quistis. "We can handle it... can't we, Riley?"
Riley nodded firmly. He was pretty good friends with Paige, well enough to know that she was very stubborn, and almost always got what she wanted. If she wanted to stay, she would end up getting to stay. And that meant he would probably get to stay too.
"No, seriously," Quistis tried again. "I really think it would be best if you all turned back."
"I'd like to go as far as the explosion site and help Leigh," Remy spoke up for the first time. "If she's hurt like they say, she's not going to be able to get back to Garden on her own."
"See? You should all go back. The two of you... you can come as far as the explosion site and then go back to Garden, like Remy."
Riley glanced at Paige, who caught his eye, looked back at Quistis, and spoke. "We're staying. We want to see what happened, and we may come in handy in finding Squall."
Quistis gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine. But if you can't handle it, don't blame me. You'll be on your own." Riley could tell she was more than a little pissed off. "Remy, can you make it back to Garden on your own? Even if you have to bring back Leigh?"
"Yes," Remy said, almost silently, but firmly. "I can do it."
.
"Did you find him?" Paiten asked. Logan was just returning from his trip to look for Squall. He shook his head.
"No. But I didn't go very far. I thought we should wait for the others. But I scanned the nearby area, and I didn't find anything. How's Leigh?"
"Well, she's breathing, and her heart is beating and all, but she's still out cold."
"Maybe the best thing to do would be to sit and wait," Logan said sensibly. Paiten nodded. She tried to stay calm, but she was an excitable person by nature and she didn't think she was doing a very good job. She was lucky to have someone like Logan with her. He was the most level-headed person she'd ever met.
Paiten was the type of girl who loved ghost stories, dares, and roller coasters. She was usually hyper and got excited by things for the fun of it. But when it came to things like this, real-life danger, she couldn't handle it quite as well.
Paiten sat. Her hair was so long that she could take her braid from behind her back in front of her and play with it, which is what she did now. For a few minutes there was complete silence. Maybe she was wrong about being stuck with someone as calm as Logan. He might be calm but he was also not a big talker, and he didn't seem to be bothered by the silence as she was.
Paiten cleared her throat. "So, Logan.... when do you think the others will get here...?" she asked, trying to create conversation more than anything else.
Logan simply shrugged. There was another few minutes of silence until he turned to her and asked, "Are you scared?"
"Are you?" she asked rather than answering him.
"Nah... Squall's a real tough guy. And the others are highly trained as well. But I believe I asked you the same question first."
Paiten looked at him in surprise. Did he really want to know? "A little," she confessed. She looked at the rubble around her left from the explosion and then looked in the direction that it came from. None of them had been expecting this, and Paiten hated surprises. "You never know what's out there," she whispered.
Logan looked in the direction that she was looking in, then looked at her until she could feel him staring and looked back at him so that he made eye contact. "You're right," he said. "You never know."
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