Hidden Pasts Chapter 2
By Katie Herdman
Seifer Almasy yawned and looked up at the night sky. The stars twinkled in
their eternal hold. Something was different, something had begun, and Seifer
could feel it.
Turning to his posse Raijin and Fujin, he smiled. How loyal they had been
when he had been “possessed” by Ultimecia. Now he could see why
they had asked for the old Seifer back at Lunatic Pandora. His dreams had
been warped by her evil. Although he would never tell them, he owed them
everything.
“Seifer, lets just rest a while. I mean we have been walking all day,
ya know, and it is gettin’ dark,” Raijin moaned, but beside him
Fujin plodded on silently. Seifer could always count on her; she would do
anything for him, without question.
Scanning the horizon, Seifer muttered, “Just a little
further.”
*****
“So,
where’s our destination,” asked Zell form the pilot’s chair
of the Ragnarok. “Deling city,” it says here that they sometimes
stay at the hotel there,” replied Squall from behind
him.
Squall
was looking at the pictures in the file. There were only two. The first was
of a Chinese girl, the same age as Quistis. Her jet-black hair was long,
but it was tied back. As the file said, her name was Ling. She was standing
in a street in Dollet and she was looking at an alleyway. Her clothes were
all black and in her hand she held a crossbow, like Rinoa’s, but it
was different.
The
second picture was of a boy. Apparently he was called Drew and he was sixteen.
He was posing for a photograph at…Balamb Garden. Squall couldn’t
believe it, and he looked harder to make sure. Yes, it was definitely Garden.
That was how the Quad looked.
He
passed the photo over to Quistis. She looked at it and then back at Squall,
surprised. “How…?”
Squall
just shrugged his shoulders.
*****
Touching
down outside the Galbadian capital, the team walked into the city. Ever since
Ultimecia had been defeated both Galbadia and Esthar had decided to try and
work out their differences. It would take time, but they might get there
eventually.
*****
Because
they had just missed the bus, they all decided that they would just walk
to the hotel. It was the hotel that Squall had gone to when “Sis”
had sent him to his father, Laguna’s past.
Walking
past a shop, a door flew open and a woman came flying out crashing straight
into Irvine. “They just keep falling over themselves to be with me,”
exclaimed Irvine.
He
then helped the young woman. “If you were that keen you could have just
said.” Selphie punched him smartly on the arm. “Owwwwwww,”
he cried. The woman just pulled a face.
When Squall saw the woman as she dusted herself, he just stared shocked.
Rinoa had to prod him to wake him up. “Are you by any chance Ling?”
he asked. “Yeah. Why? Who are you?”
“We’re
SeeD’s. My name is Squall Leonhart and we’ve been instructed to
find a friend of yours, Andria Perne.”
“Why
do you wanna find her?”
Butting
in, Irvine said, “I’m free now if you want to go out…”
He never finished as a kick from Selphie shut him up.
Ignoring
Irvine and Selphie, Squall continued, “It’s about a murder in our
Garden, and we were told that she could help us.”
“I
take it Edea sent you,” sighed Ling, “we have problems of our own
right now. I don’t think she can help you.”
“Please,”
asked Selphie, “he was my friend.”
“Okay,
but don’t blame me if she tells you to get
lost.”
*****
Walking
down the steps of the Galbadian Hotel, the guy looked around. He was about
19 with hazel eyes that used to bounce with energy, but with all that he
had seen they quickly lost their sparkle. His hair had also once been completely
black, but that was also changing to a grey. Most people thought he had an
odd appearance for a teenager, but most people hadn’t gone through what
he had.
He
went and sat down next to a girl. Around her neck was a small pendant with
a right way up pentagram. Her hair went just below her shoulder line and
it hung loosely around her shoulders and curled inwards at the bottom. She
wore boots with a short heel, tight black trousers which showed long, thin
legs, a white top and a long, black coat. She turned and smiled when he sat
down.
“Hi
Vincent. So…what’s to report?”
“Sia
and Drew will meet us a Timber. It was where we were going next wasn’t
it?”
“Yeah.”
“Right
they’ll meet us there. Oh, and Cid called the Hotel to see if we were
here.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah,
well they’ve had some trouble at the Garden, seems one of their people
were killed in strange circumstances, so they’ve sent some SeeD’s
to try and find us.”
“Oh
God! Cid knows how busy we are. He shouldn’t have wasted his time.”
Andria sighed, “I suppose we’ll just have to stay
lost.”
“Andria,
do you really think…” Vincent seemed unsure about hiding from
SeeD.
“Unmovable,”
Andria said quickly.
Looking
at her, Vincent didn’t know what to do with her. He loved her and he
was certain she knew. Well she was a witch and they’d known each other
since they were eight, which is why he knew that she would never be his.
Her heart belonged to another.
“Go find Ling,” she said finally, “we’re leaving now.”
Vincent got up to leave, then turned back to her.
“She’s
found us.”
Looking
up Andria saw the SeeD’s.
*****
Andria
quickly caught Vincent’s arm and dragged him behind the bar. As the
bartender knew her he didn’t ask questions.
“So
where is she,” asked Zell.
“I’ll
go ask reception if she’s left,” replied Ling.
At
that point Irvine came in with his remarks as if on que,
“While
you’re there maybe you can get us a room
together.”
Ling
gave him a nasty look and walked away. From behind the bar, the bartender
showed Andria and Vincent out another way. Andria was furious, but not at
Ling, she wasn’t to know what the SeeD’s wanted. There was a familiar
presence when they walked down the stairs. She wished she had gotten a good
look at their faces. As she knew some people in SeeD, she might have recognised
them.
“Look
I am really, really sorry Andria. I didn’t know you didn’t want
to speak to them,” apologised Ling.
“It’s
okay, I understand, you weren’t to know. Come on, let’s get out
of here.”
As
they started off to the train station, a gang of monsters set them
upon.
*****
“What
was that?”
Rinoa
heard the scream first.
“Let’s
go,” said Squall. The SeeD’s pounded up the stairs and out the
door, but what they saw was unbelievable.
Three
teenagers were fighting some monster, but they looked different from any
monsters that the SeeD’s had ever seen before. Their faces were grotesque
looking. The girl Ling was fighting one, as was a boy. Another girl was nearby
battling three of them.
*****
The
vampires were strong, Andria knew that, but they were no match for her. The
first vampire she side kicked in the face. He went down. For the second one
an inner crescent and a jump kick in the jaw brought her to her knees. She
then stabbed him with the dagger in her hand.
The
third one tried a different approach. He jumped over her head and quickly
turn kicked her in the back before she could turn round. Andria hit the railings
and hung on to them. When he rushed at her again, she used the railings to
balance her and she then leaned on her back and brought her feet up right
into the vampires jaw. She grabbed her dagger and slayed him straight
away.
As
Ling and Vincent killed their last one, Andria and Ling hi fived. Andria
then turned round and looked into faces she hadn’t seen in a long
time.
Author’s
Note
A
bit of useless info: Ragnarok is the Norse word for Armageddon. Just thought
you’d like to know.
Also
I am sick of people mixing up witches with sorceresses. In FFVIII sorceresses
were never called witches. So I have both witches and sorceress in my
story.
.