Foreshadow Chapter 2
By Peptuck3
At
long, freaking last, I finally began working on this thing again! Well, actually,
I was working on it over the last few months, but little things like college
and work stepped up to get in my way, but....I'm done with Chapter 2. Also,
I will be updating more often. Much more often.
Be forwarned: I suck at this mushy love stuff, mostly due to a sad lack of
personal experience. So, if the Squall/Rinoa dialogue seems a bit stupid
or forced or something, cut me some slack.
Warning, this chapter is kinda boring. Its one of those "get all the boring
background and current world situation crap out of the way" kinda chapters.
That's why it took so long to finish. Bleh. Though I did include a sort of
fight scene....
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Foreshadow Chapter
2:
Laguna leaned back in his
chair, turned away from the door to his office to look out the massive office
window. The huge transparisteel glass window offered a vast, panoramic view
of the Estharian
city.
As Laguna absently watched
the vast city he'd been administrating for the last seventeen years, his
mind drifted back across time, to the final memory of Raine, as he had left
to find
Ellone.
"I'll be right back after
I find her! I promise!" he had said that long-ago day in Winhill, hoisting
his machine gun and charging off to find a way into Esthar alongside Kiros
and Ward. His words then had been grounded in the foolish idealism of youth.
He had been twenty eight years old, but still mentally a kid, out to see
the wide world. Even today, at forty-five, Laguna was still childish in some
respects.
But not this
morning.
When he had left Raine, she
had been pregnant with their child, a child Laguna had never known. After
coming to Esthar, Laguna had found that he couldn't just leave the place
without dealing with the resident dictatoress, Adel. And after the revolution,
Laguna had promised himself he'd return to Winhill, after solving the worst
problems.
And here he was, seventeen
years later, still dealing with Esthar's problems. But the way he was slumped
in his chair, the tiredness in his vivid green eyes, the slackness in his
muscles, was not from the stress of having to keep the massive city up and
running, the burden of ruling a
nation.
It was the weight of finally
having to deal with the responsibility his past. A past that had suddenly
come in the form of a young man who, three weeks ago, had brought an unconcious
girl halfway across an ocean in a desperate mission to save her, and then
saved not just the whole world, but time
itself.
A young man who Laguna had
known about for years, but had never built up the courage to seek
out.
His son, Squall
Leonhart.
"He knows, doesn't he?" asked
a soft voice from the
doorway.
It took a long time for Laguna
to respond, as if speaking the word took everything he
had.
"Yeah," Laguna finally replied
to Ellone as she walked into his office. He loosed a long, deep sigh. "He
hasn't said anything to me about it, but I'm sure he's figured it
out."
Behind him, Ellone
nodded.
"Seventeen years," Laguna
whispered after a moment. "He looks so much like Raine..." Several long moments
of silence permeated the office. Ellone watched her normally jovial foster
father for a while. She rarely saw Laguna like this, and only when he was
reminiscing about
Raine.
After a moment, Ellone walked
over to Laguna and put a hand on her foster father's shoulder. Laguna turned
his head up to face Ellone, looking into the face of the girl he'd taken
for his own daughter after that terrible day in Winhill. The young woman's
presence always made Laguna feel a little better, and after meeting his
daughter's eyes, a small smile crept onto his
face.
After a second, however,
the smile faded as he noticed something in Ellone's own eyes. She seemed
anxious, as if something deep within was troubling
her.
"Is something wrong, Elle?"
Laguna
asked.
Ellone closed her eyes and
shook her head quickly. "No, I'm alright, Uncle Laguna. Just still a bit
shaken by all that's happened
recently...."
"That nightmare?" Laguna
inquired, remembering how he and half of the palace's people had been jarred
out of bed by Ellone's
scream.
"No," Ellone whispered, looking
away from her father and out the window. "That was just a
dream...."
Laguna looked up at Ellone
for a few more moments, then also turned his head to look out the window.
He knew that Elle was hiding something, but refrained from asking. Laguna
realized that his daughter would tell him in her own
time.
"Just a dream...." Ellone
whispered
again.
* * * * *
*
Captian Vellius scanned the
nearby area. Aside from the unending whiteness and the distant mountains,
the only truly promenient feature of this section of Trabia was the huge
crater visible to the
south.
At least, that was how it
was supposed to be, but when the soldier had investigated scattered radio
signals to the north of the crater, he had discovered something quite startling,
that needed immediate
reporting.
With his scan detecting no
enemies or observers nearby, the soldier reached into a pocket and pulled
out his comlink. He dialed up a number, a familiar one, and then waited for
the encryption to synchronize between his comlink and that of the man he
was contacting. After a few seconds, his device beeped, and a voice came
on the other
end.
"Vellius?" he asked, not
worried about the encryption question. Vellius knew his
job.
"Yes sir. I have
news."
"News?"
"Galbadians,
sir."
"What do you mean,
Galbadians?"
"A forward base, sir. Well
concealed. They're using old Shumi comm frequencies to throw off our scans,
and focusing the transmissions so the Shumis and the Trabians can't hear
them. I didn't pick them up until I detected them while out on
patrol."
"Are they aware of the
facility?"
"No sir," Vellius replied.
"They appear to be investigating an old Centra shelter wreakage, no
more."
"Is there any threat to the
facility
now?"
"None that I can make out.
But as I was scouting, I found that their patrols have been passing within
seven kilometers of our perimeter. They could potentially pick up transmissions
or emmissions from the facility, despite its location within the crater,
sir."
"I see... Our stake in this
is too high to risk discovery by the Galbadians. We are too close to
completion...but we can't risk an open attack. Captian, deploy a scout team
near the Galbadian base. I want them to investigate, but also ensure they
are discovered by the
Galbadians."
"Discovered,
sir?"
"Yes. If we destroy the base
ourselves, it will alert the Shumis, the Trabians, and the Galbadians to
our ...interests in the region. That would be a disaster to the research
project. But, if we force the Galbadians to pursue a scout team, then we
can always bring in a third party for elimination
purposes."
"Garden?"
"Yes. The team should lead
the Galbadian pursuit north, where the Galbadians will be headed close to
the nearest Shumi encampment in that region, and also close to the large
Trabian oil wells. The Shumi and Trabians will interpret this as an attack,
and trace its source back to the forward base. They call in Garden, SeeD
appears, destroys the Galbadians and their base, and we can continue our
operations, with none the
wiser."
"Understood, sir. It will
be
done."
"Excellent. Report back when
the operation is complete." And with that, the comlink went
silent.
Vellius pocketed his comlink
and climbed back onto his snow scout- bike, and turned his vehicle south
to the crater. The Galbadians would be very sorry they came to
Trabia.
* * * *
*
The thin fabric of Squall's
shirt clung to his body, bonded to his skin by sweat as he faced off against
his training partner. The two fighters had been practicing alone in Garden's
dojo-style training room for several minutes, engaged in hand to hand combat,
and while Squall was a master of combat with the gunblade, his hand to hand
skills were not as polished nor as effective as those of his choice
weapon.
It wasn't helping that his
partner was no slouch in hand to hand combat either. He knew his partner
had been trained as a child and a young adult in self defense and martial
arts by several skilled teachers, and while those were not up to the standards
or dedication of the training a SeeD recieved, they were still nonetheless
impressive.
Squall watched his opponent's
movements. He noted his foe's stance, a balanced combat pose, the feet evenly
spaced apart, left foot forward. He kept an eye on the hands, held up in
a classic guard, ready to block or strike. He locked his gaze onto that of
his opponent, judging the confidence in those
eyes.
After appraising his enemy,
Squall's own hands snapped up in a guard and he advanced. He ran forward,
towards his opponent. He opened up with a quick left jab, followed by a right
hook and then a left hook. His opponent ducked aside from the jab, and blocked
both hooks, and replied with a swift left jab that caught Squall in the
chest.
The blow thudded off Squall's
torso, but he paid the slight sting no mind, and instead his right hand closed
over the wrist of his opponent's extended left arm. Grabbing tightly, Squall
spun to his left, pulling his opponent's arm with him. Holding his foe's
arm out in front of him, Squall shot his right leg in front of his enemy's
extended left leg, his foot tripping his opponent. Squall altered the direction
of his pull on his foe's arm, yanking downward, using the force of both his
pull and the trip to force his enemy down to the
floor.
Thinking quickly, his opponent
managed to twist around towards Squall even while falling. Squall's foe reached
forward with the free right arm and managed to grab the front of his shirt.
Even as Squall was forcing his opponent down, he himself was yanked off his
feet.
The two connected with the
training mats, and rolled along in a tumble of arms and legs. A moment later,
Squall found himself on his back, his opponent on top. Even as Squall began
to rise up, his opponent's hands planted themselves on his shoulders, and
a quick shove had them pinned to the
mat.
"I win," Rinoa said with
a grin.
Squall let out a breath,
a sort of laughing pant as he conceeded to her
victory.
"Yeah, you did," Squall said
in response, his head dropping back to the mat, even as he locked eyes with
Rinoa, who still had her hands planted firmly on Squall's
shoulders.
"I don't think the fairy
tales talk too much about the princess beating up her knight," Rinoa
said.
Squall let loose a laugh
at Rinoa's remark. Laughing...Squall didn't do that too often, at least before
a few weeks ago. That thought brought Squall's gaze up to Rinoa's face, then
into her rich brown eyes. Deep brown eyes, sparkling with inner life, the
kind that invited you to explore their
depths...
Squall suddenly realized
he was actually staring at Rinoa's face, and, judging by the knowing smile
on that face, she knew it too. Squall opened his mouth, wanting to say something,
but Rinoa's smile just widened, and she gave Squall one of those knowing
looks, as if she knew he was nervous with someone understanding his true
feelings. It was like he was back there at the dance, and she had looked
right into Squall's eyes and told him without a word that she knew he was
a better dancer than he was letting on. It was something about that look,
about the whole way Rinoa was able to empathize with and understand people,
combined with her open, friendly personality and zest for life, that had
even attracted Squall to her in the first place. He still wasn't sure why
he had found himself so concerned for Rinoa, but Squall knew that he did
care for this girl who lay on top of him here and
now.
There you go Squall, he thought
to himself, wandering off to your own little world again. As if to punctuate
his thoughts, Rinoa
spoke.
"What are you thinking about?"
she
asked.
"Nothing," the reflexive
word came out before Squall thought about it. If there had been a wall nearby
to bash his head against, Squall would have left a colossal dent in it right
then. Brilliant, just brilliant
Leonhart.
But Rinoa just wore that
understanding smile, as if she knew what Squall had said wasn't his
intention.
"I mean, I...I was thinking
about us." Much better, Squall thought. Not so idiotic this
time.
Rinoa nodded, already knowing
he had been thinking about them, or at the very least, her. One look in her
eyes was all Squall needed to know that
fact.
The quiet, private moment
the pair were sharing was interrupted as Squall and Rinoa heard the sound
of beeping coming from Squall's watch, indicating he had ten minutes before
a scheduled meeting with Headmaster
Cid.
"I suppose training is over,"
Squall muttered, as Rinoa stood up off him. The two teenagers stood up, and
headed into the empty locker room where they had put up their loose
clothing.
Squall pulled his jacket
out of the random locker he'd stowed it in, and glanced over at Rinoa as
she too took out her loose blue cape-like garment. Squall didn't bother slipping
his jacket back on, but instead watched Rinoa as she donned the blue garment.
She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and looked over at Squall, who
suddenly realized to his embarassment that he'd been caught staring. Again.
Squall blushed slightly and glanced away, but Rinoa merely smiled and chuckled
slightly in understanding at this young man who was still somewhat confused,
who could love and feel passion and yet still be embarrassed to show it.
Squall looked back at
Rinoa.
"What's so funny?" he asked,
somewhat defensively, at the sound of her faint
laughter.
"I'm sorry...." Rinoa replied.
"It's just..." She stopped there, not sure of what to say. She had almost
said that it was funny how Squall was still so nervous and confused, being
sort of ashamed at being caught staring at her even though their relationship
was far beyond
that.
"Nothing, its nothing," she
added a moment
later.
Squall's watch beeped again,
indicating five minutes until the meeting with Cid. Squall glared down at
the watch like it had betrayed him, and then sighed. It wasn't so much that
he didn't want to go to this meeting, but that he still wanted to be here
with
Rinoa.
"Dammit," he hissed, and
looked back up at Rinoa, only to find she had crossed the distance between
them and stood right in front of
Squall.
"Go on," she said, flashing
that beautiful smile, the same one she'd shown at the dance where they'd
first met. "I'll be waiting out in the Quad when you;re done with this boring
meeting."
Squall nodded, and then,
with a slight hesistation, walked
out.
* * * *
*
Squall stepped off the elevator
and passed through the doors into Cid's office. Cid's room had been refurnished
after their adventure inside Esthar, the desk and chairs moved around to
the side of the of the room. The center of Cid's office was still dominated
by the elevator and central pylon that led to the "bridge", where Nida was
on duty, keeping the Garden on its course for Fisherman's Horizon. Cid had
ordered the destination earlier that day, but Squall hadn't heard why they
were headed there in the first
place.
Cid was seated behind his
desk, which was dominated by a stack of what Cid reffered to as "beauracratic
hell," or in other words, paperwork. Both Quistis and Xu were sitting in
some chairs in front of the desk, and an additional chair, Squall's obviously,
was left
vacant.
Both Xu and Quistis rose
from their chairs as Squall entered and snapped off the SeeD salute at him.
Their raised hands hid their grins at the somewhat annoyed scowl that creeped
onto Squall's face at the recognition of his rank as SeeD
Commander.
"Ah, Commander, its good
to see you. How are you doing?" Cid asked as Squall walked across the room
to Cid's
desk.
"I'm fine, sir," Squall replied
as he took the seat next to Xu. "And
you?"
"I'm doing well. Now, since
all the higher-up administrative staff is here, we can get this thing
started."
They all nodded. Squall was
still Garden's military commander, and Xu and Quistis would continue the
duties they'd been performing before when Garden had been searching for Ellone
and fighting the Galbadians and Ultimecia. Xu was in charge of Garden's supplies
and recruitment and was Cid's personal assistant. Quistis would be in charge
of the students and classes. There were still gaps in the administrative
body, but those were being taken care
of.
"First of all, I've been
considering the performance of many of our cadets and personnel, especially
during the minor civil war we expeirienced and also the battle with the Galbadian
army. And I've decided that no fewer then twenty seven of our cadets have
earned the title of SeeD, judging from their actions. These," Cid said, pulling
out a thick folder filled with bound documents. "are their files. Xu has
already looked over them and approved each of my choices. We're also promoting
Irvine Kinneas to the rank of SeeD as well, and his transfer to Balamb has
been approved . . . though not without some whining from Headmaster Martine
over losing his best sniper and sharpshooter. As of right now, Selphie is
preparing the party in celebration . . . and of course, also to celebrate
the victory that never
happened."
Each of the SeeDs and the
Headmaster knew what had happened, how Squall and his comades had defeated
Ultimecia and saved time itself. But, aside from those six, Cid, Edea, Xu,
Laguna, Kiros, Ward, and Ellone, no one else knew what had happened. In fact,
no one else had even felt the jarring effects of temporal compression aside
from the six heroes. So, the whole thing had really been just covered up
and forgotten. Time compression and the battle against Ultimecia had never
occured. The story going through Garden said Ultimecia must have been defeated
by SeeDs in the future, which was obviously why she was no longer acting
in this particular time, and Cid, Squall, and everyone else did nothing to
stop the
rumor.
"Also," Cid continued, "we're
adding a number of new personnel to our staff and shifting some more around.
I intend to hire a team of full-time maintenience personnel, including some
from FH to help us service Garden's drive system. I'm also considering adding
in a few additional medical personnel, including another full time doctor
to help Doctor Kadowaki. Also, with the removal of the old Shumi faculty,
I intend to have some of our SeeDs serve as faculty, much like some of our
old student
commitees."
Squall, Xu, and Quistis agreed.
They had already discussed this with Cid
earlier.
"Also, I've decided that
we need a stronger policing of our student body, and also more security for
Garden itself. We also need an additional, experienced SeeD who can serve
as a secondary commander of Garden, in case we need to deploy you, Squall.
I've chosen to combine our security needs with the need for an extra commanding
SeeD into one position, which I've dubbed Lieutenant Commander. I've already
lined up a SeeD from Galbadia Garden for this
role."
"Galbadia Garden?" Squall
asked.
"Yes," Cid replied. "Our
most experienced and skilled SeeDs here in Balamb already fill administrative
roles, or are unfit for those duties. After discussing the matter with Headmaster
Martine, he decided to transfer a SeeD over to me to fill the position. His
name is Gerrard Kerrer, SeeD rank A, a rather experienced and exceptionally
skilled SeeD. He's more or less Galbadia's equivilant to you,
Squall."
"Also," Quistis added, "I
intend to train some of our students in other areas aside from combat, magic,
and GFs. New classes will include machinery training, advanced medical classes,
gunnery, piloting...we're planning on getting the Estharians to lend us a
Ragnorok pilot so we can train SeeDs in piloting the ship. Eventually, we
intend for Garden to be serviced and operated by an entirely Garden-trained,
in-house
staff."
Her mention of the Ragnorok
caught Squall's
attention.
"Speaking of the Ragnorok,
what are we going to do with it? It does technically still belong to Esthar,
after
all."
"Not anymore," Cid responded
with a chuckle. "Do you recall that the Estharians hired us to assault the
Lunatic Pandora and defeat Adel and Ultimecia? Seeing as how that was an
actual SeeD mission, we were rewarded handsomely for it. A large part of
our payment was in money, and some more was in the official transfer of the
Ragnorok itself to our control. So its all perfectly
legal."
"We're planning on constructing
a docking platform near the parking lot for the Ragnorok," Xu added. "Estharian
technicians, as part of our contract with Esthar's government, will be there
in FH to assist the FH techs we've contracted in the construction process,
and also to help us expand the lot to be more of a general vehicle launch
hangar."
The mention of FH's technicians
and the construction contracts reminded Squall of something
else.
"What are we doing with the
MD Level? I know the contracts are being finalized, but I haven't had word
on what we're
planning."
"Well, that's because we
didn't have any idea of what we should do with it," Cid replied. "But, Xu
and some of our more ingenuitive SeeDs came up with the basic ideas." Cid
glanced at Xu, and waved his hand slightly, prompting
her.
"We've decided to rennovate
the MD level into a large, deep storage area," Xu began. "The basic plan
involves three compartments: one for supply and equipment storage, and another
for ground vehicles, both of which also include an elevator to lower and
raise freight to and from deep
storage."
"What about the third
compartment?" Squall asked, intrigued by the
possibilities.
"That's where we'll store
our ocean vessels," Xu responded. "The plans call for a large internal dock
where we would keep the vessels. Normally, its dry, allowing for maintenence
and repairs, but when we need to launch, we fill the dock with water and
deploy. The FH technicians have been using this type of system for
years."
"Once the rennovations are
complete, we'll sell the dock in Balamb where we stored our vessels and move
our fleet to Garden," Cid said. "That will give us more flexibility, which
is an important aspect of our new
stance."
"Also, to add to flexibility,
we're planning on getting our hands on some new toys, such as hoverpods and
maybe one or two VTOL craft in addition to the Ragnorok," Xu included. "We're
also looking for some heavier vehicles, such as armored personnel carriers,
light tanks, and mid range artillery. I doubt we could buy any off the Galbadian
military, since Veers doesn't like us too much, and black market contacts
would be too expensive, but we could have a private contractor handle it
for us."
"Wait a minute," Squall
interrupted. "Where are we getting the money for this? I thought SeeD had
a limited
budget."
"It does," Cid replied with
a widening grin. "A budget set by NORG. But now that he's gone, we have more
freedom to spend our money. And, it turns out that there is a lot more money
availible to Garden than we had ever thought. Xu checked his computer records
inside his pod while you were in Esthar and came up with some, well, amazing
information."
"NORG had been taking a large
part of our income and storing it in Dollet bank accounts," Quistis said.
"Hundreds of millions of gil were sitting there, accumulating interest. Not
only that, but we learned that NORG also ran other operations aside from
SeeD. Some were legitamite businesses, but others were highly
illegal."
Cid's eyes hardened in anger.
"NORG was in charge of smuggling operations, drug running, dockside protection,
and illegal gambling, just to name a few things. He had operations all up
and down the coast, from Timber's seaside villages to the streets of Deling.
We took the information to the appropriate authorities, and seized many of
his assets. We're still in the process of uncovering all his accounts and
information, but the amount of money we found was
staggering."
"How much?" Squall asked,
hardly believing what he was
hearing.
"In monetary assets alone,
he had about eight-hundred and fifty million gil in all the accounts we've
found thus far. Counting property values and other hard assets....we're guessing
over a billion gil. At
least."
Squall's jaw nearly hit the
floor at Cid's
words.
"A...billion gil?" he
asked.
"Yes, indeed," Cid confirmed.
"Not only that, but we're still uncovering more of NORG's operations, so
you can expect that value to rise. The money is being split among the three
Gardens. Obviously, Trabia is getting a big share dedicated to rebuilding,
and Galbadia Garden is recieving a large part for its own repairs and
rennovations at FH. We're getting what's left, which is, needless to say,
quite a
bit."
Before Cid could continue,
a beeping sound was heard from his desk. He tapped a button on the desk,
and a panel slid open, revealing a phone. Squall, Xu, and Quistis all knew
about that particular phone. It was connected to the Garden's office that
dealt with people wanting to form contracts for mercanary operations. Which
meant Garden had just recieved a request for SeeD
intervention.
"Yes?....I see. I understand.
They understand the increase in cost for use of the Ragnorok? I see. Good.
Finish the contract as soon as you can, I'll let my senior staff
know."
Cid hung up the phone and
looked up at Squall, Xu,a nd
Quistis.
"We've been hired for an
operation," Cid said. "Contact Selphie, have her prep the Ragnorok. And be
sure to tell her that SeeD is deploying to
Trabia."
* * * * *
*
"Headmaster, you sent for
me?" Gerrard Kerrer asked as he walked into the grand office of Headmaster
Martine of Galbadia Garden. Gerrard snapped a salute to his superior and
stood straight, waiting for a response from Martine, who looked up from something
on his desk and
nodded.
"At ease, A," Martine replied,
reffering to Gerrard's rank in SeeD, much as a commander in Galbadia would
refer to his subordinates by their rank. Gerrard immediately relaxed and
waited for Martine to speak. At six feet and three inches, with a muscled
body honed by four years as a SeeD and seven years of training beforehand,
the twenty-one year old SeeD was a powerful, imposing sight, which became
even more frightening when he weilded his weapon of choice, a massive claymore.
His closely cut but visible black beard and mustache gave him an air of control
and strength, and his short but straight and combed black hair added to the
look. It wasn't visible, but Gerrard also featured a promienent tatoo of
the Galbadian Garden's logo on his back, under his
uniform.
"The transfer papers have
been completed, and Balamb Garden is awaiting your arrival. I trust your
belongings have been packed and are waiting?" Martine
asked.
"They were ready the moment
I heard I was to be appointed, Headmaster. As soon as this meeting is over
I intend to be on the train to Dollet to pick up transport to FH and then
to Balamb
Garden."
"Good. Now, Kerrer, I did
not call you to this meeting just to confirm whether you were physically
prepared for the new position you will be called on to fill. But, I figure
you are already aware of
that."
"Yes, sir," Gerrard replied.
"There is something you wanted to say to me personally,
sir?"
"Yes, there was," Martine
said, resting his elbows on the desk and clasping his hands together in front
of his mouth. "As the Lieutenant Commander of Balamb Garden, you will be
faced with far more decisions than a squad leader or mission commander normally
faces. You will be tasked with tactical command of large groups of
SeeDs."
"I am aware of that, Headmaster,"
Gerrard
replied.
"I know, Kerrer. However,
you will also be tasked with some administrative duties," Martine continued.
"While paperwork and the like are an inevitable side effect of this type
of command duty, there are other administrative tasks you may be a part of.
Your job description does include the command of Balamb's SeeD forces for
defense and policing of Garden facilities." Martine eyed Gerrard, matching
the SeeD's gaze. "This will put you in a critical position. You've heard
the rumors, haven't you,
Kerrer?"
"If you are reffering to
the ones surrounding the transfer of Edea's powers and those of Adel, yes
sir, I
have."
"If the rumors prove true,
Kerrer-"
"I will act on them. I will
not allow Garden's security to be compromised by a Sorceress within our own
ranks. You have my word,
Headmaster."
"Excellent, Kerrer. That
was what I was wanting to hear. Remember," Martine looked Gerrard dead in
the eyes again, "You are Garden's last line of defense. If Garden is
threatened-"
"I will do whatever is in
my power to remove that threat," Gerrard assured
Martine.
"Very well, Kerrer.
Dismissed."
Gerrard snapped of a salute
to Martine and strode out of the Headmaster's
office.
* * * *
*
"Silence got what we wanted,"
Kiros said as he and Ward walked into Laguna's darkened
office.
"And?" Laguna asked as he
spun his chair away from the panoramic view offered by his window to face
his
friends.
"Nothing," Kiros said. Laguna
blinked in
surprise.
"Nothing?" Laguna said in
disbelief. "Nothing on where he transported the
monsters?"
"Nope," Kiros confirmed.
"It just has records on capturing a few of the lunar monsters. Some Turtapods,
a pair of Toromas, a Ruby Dragon, and an Iron Giant. And some data on storing
and feeding the monsters, and requests for replacement personnel after the
losses that resulted from catching the things. Nothing on where they
went."
"...." Ward expression displayed
his
concern.
"Yeah, I know he's up to
something," Laguna said, reading Ward's face. "Question is,
what?"
"Whatever it is, it'll involve
research," Kiros
remarked.
"That's obvious," Laguna
replied. "Where's Silence?" he asked, changing the
subject.
"...." Ward
shrugged.
"He left after taking his
money. I'm not sure where he went. But we can still contact him if we need
another job out of him," Kiros said with a shrug. "But there was one other
thing," Kiros added in a grim
tone.
"What?" Laguna asked. He
didn't like that voice. It usually meant something very, very bad had
happened.
"Illarra made an appearance
at the
lab."
He had been wrong, Laguna
realized. That wasn't bad news, that was catostrophic
news.
"Illarra? She's back?" he
asked in disbelief. He sincerely hoped Kiros was playing a very bad joke
on him.
"She's left whatever hole
she and her people crawled into for the last three years," Kiros said. "We
confirmed Illarra's presence at the battle, and there was a GF summoned.
Strong magic as well. And to top it off, she said her name to
Silence."
"Illarra and her goons are
back. Just what we need now," Laguna muttered. "Get EBI on this, right away.
We can't have Illarra and her people running around now. The worldwide situation
is too volitale." Kiros nodded. Laguna paused for a moment. "What did they
do?" he
asked.
"...." Ward
shrugged.
"We're not sure," Kiros said.
"They stole a box of some kind, but you know we don't look too deeply in
on Odine's privately funded labs, so we can't say what it was they
stole."
"Whatever it was, it had
to be valuable," Laguna mused. "Illarra doesn't go after pocket Gil, after
all."
"I'll inform the head of
the Bureau. They'll see to it," Kiros
said.
"...." Ward rumbled his
agreement. With that, Laguna's two closest advisors and friends left the
office.
The Estharian Bureau of
Investigation routinely dealt with criminal orginazations that could run
circles around the police of Galbadia and even Dollet's practiced smuggler
hunters. But this was Illarra they were now chasing. There were few criminal
orginazations that were as wily, clever, and elusive as Illarra's mysterious
band of killers, theives, criminals, and mercanaries. And even worse, Illarra's
group was the kind of organization that, when one was planning a raid on
a hideout, the first words would be "After the bombing runs are
complete..."
Laguna vividly recalled the
kind of destruction and death that Illarra had caused up until three years
ago, before her group had finally been broken up by the EBI. The questions
behind their organization had never been answered before they had gone
underground.
Illarra and her band of shadowy
criminals had always been a mystery to Laguna. And now, they were back, and
raiding O Lab, of all places. What did it mean? Why had they come back
now?
"Too many questions, not
enough answers," Laguna muttered as he stood up and walked over to the window
overlooking Esthar. He watched the flowing lights of the nightime city, and
looked down into the depths of the urban landscape. Depths where criminals
like Illarra and her people
thrived.
"Illarra...." Laguna hissed
again as he looked down into his
city.
There were others who thrived
in the depths of the cityscape as well, but only one whom he could
trust.
Laguna turned around and
walked back to his desk. He picked up his comlink and dialed
Kiros.
"Laguna?" Kiros asked when
he picked up his comlink on the other
end.
"Yeah, Kiros. I need you
to do something else for
me."
"What's
that?"
"Get me Silence."
Chapter 3
Peptuck3's Fanfiction