Inferno It was time; Balamb Garden had arrived in Dollet, the sun had just vanished beyond the horizon and an inky darkness was settling over the city. A small army of Dollet's finest gathered around the Garden as it hovered low over a sea of police cars and news vans. The mixture of flashing lights from police vehicles and Balamb's magical engines created a kaleidoscope of luminescence that was dizzying. The light and the wailing noise of sirens gave the impression of anarchy but nothing could be farther from the truth. The first is landing ramp lowered and Balamb's upper hierarchy descended. A gathering of awestruck locals stood at the edges of the gathering, to many, the inhabitants of Balamb seemed more like mythological figures, like heroes of old, with near godlike power. First down was Squall, Cid and Edea. They quickly rendezvoused with a short rotund man in a business suit, the mayor of Dollet. Quistis was next and she was dressed for business. Wearing an intense but chic black leather jumpsuit and headset she strode down the ramp like a panther on the prowl. Behind her followed a score of stern looking youths dressed standard Garden uniforms. Xu followed next, chatting busily into her headset, a laptop firmly in hand. Quistis led her team to a nearby empty field where they waited. "Fifteen minutes." Xu shouted to her before sitting down on the trunk of a police car with her laptop. Quistis nodded gravely and turned to face her students. "This is it." She said firmly, her voice stern and loud. "If anyone wants to back out, now is the time. This is not a game, this is for real, the threats are, real. We all have a job to do, remember you're training and you'll do fine." The students stood in line at attention as she walked amongst them. She first approached Aeka and looked down at the small woman intensely. "Aeka, are you ready?" Aeka looked terrified but stood proud. She nodded solemnly then swallowed. "Yes Ma'am!" She barked. "Calm down, we aren't military." Quistis said with a slight smirk. Royce chuckled earning a withering look from Quistis and she stormed over to him. Looking him over searchingly she put her hands on her hips and frowned. "That doesn't mean you can go in there halfcocked, you're a team leader, I expect nothing but excellence from you and the others. No heroics, things get hairy, you call for assistance." "I understand, we'll make you proud." He said proudly. "Don't do this to make me proud, do this because it's you're job. I want you free of distractions." Royce nodded and Quistis moved down the line checking each student in turn. Rinoa was up next; she looked fairly relaxed and smiled cheerfully. "How are you doing?" Quistis asked stiffly. "Ready to go." Rinoa winked. "You have experience, but don't get cocky." Quistis sighed. "You know me better than that." "You're right, be safe." "Are you okay, you seem a bit mechanical lately." Rinoa whispered. "Keep your mind on the matters at hand." Quistis whispered harshly then moved on. Rinoa was hurt and stunned but kept silent. Quistis had been getting more and more irritable ever since Seifer arrived. Things had only gotten worse during the incident in the hanger. Ever since then Quistis had not spoken or seen anyone in way outside of mission related events. Fujin was next in line. Quistis's expression was hard and guarded, as she looked her over. Fujin was equally grim faced; though both women knew it had nothing to do with the mission at hand. Quistis had tried to ignore what she witnessed in the hanger that day. A kiss, she tried to keep an open mind seeing she didn't know the circumstances. Rationally, Quistis assumed it was Seifer's doing, but irrationally she couldn't get the scene out of her mind. She never asked for an explanation nor had Fujin offered one. Quistis just wished things could go back to the way they way it used to be, before Seifer. Hardly able to sleep since their falling out, she had to resort to medication to get decent nights sleep so that she could function properly. She felt her mask of feigned indifference being to crumble, as their eyes met. Fujin was better at hiding her emotions. Even to Quistis's trained eye the woman seemed carved of stone, unreadable. "Come back." Quistis said simply, but with a double meaning. Fujin said nothing and Quistis moved on. "Miss Trepe?" Aeka called worriedly. "Yes?" "Is it true we're going after Luccian? I mean how is that possible? He's a jerk and all but..." The girl trailed off not even sure what her point was. "He's not the Luccian anymore." Quistis said darkly. "How do we know? How can we be sure?" She mumbled. Quistis sighed and walked over to her. "Aeka, don't worry about Luccian, Squall and his team will be handling the matter." "You mean they're going to kill him." Aeka frowned. "Yes, In all likelihood it will come down to that." Quistis with painful bluntness, she wanted Aeka to realize the seriousness of the situation. "Aeka, if you are having doubts, of any kind, you, need, to go back inside." She said, her voice softening. "No, it's okay, I just needed to ask, I'm sorry." Aeka whispered. "It's okay to ask questions." Quistis smiled faintly. *********************** Seifer stood glaring from the observation deck on Balamb Garden's bridge. He caught his reflection in the thick glass and frowned. His face was still heavily bruised from the brawl with Zell. Brawl was an understatement, he hated to admit it but chicken wuss handed him his ass. He took comfort in knowing that without guardian forces the fight would have ended differently. Yet another insult to his pride, first they strip of him of his hard earned guardians then treat him like an animal and now this. Everyone else had departed, ready to go on the mission, a mission that was rightfully his. He ruined his chance for glory once before and now it was being snatched out from under him again. He had half a mind to ditch his guards and storm the compound, regardless of what Squall had said. Reluctantly he decided such an action wouldn't be in his best interests. He still held hope for fixing things with Fujin. Somehow, no matter how hard he tried to forget her, thoughts of her kept creeping back into his mind. She'd turned against him, and that pissed him off royally. She wanted nothing to do with him, claimed to hate him. After all he'd done for her; she at least owed him something, a chance. He was clueless as to why her sudden change of heart, she'd always wanted him before. He knew it wasn't the beating, or the eye. He had bought her flowers and apologized. He figured the matter was behind them and better off forgotten. "Damn it." He snarled quietly. Nida looked over at him curiously. "What's up?" "I should be out there, doing something." "You are doing something, you and Xu are running intelligence." Nida shrugged mildly. "That's bullshit and you know it." "Whatever." Nida sighed, he hoped Xu returned soon. "Nida." Zell's voice cracked over the intercom. "Go ahead Zell." "We're ready down here. "I'm sending Selphie back up to you." "Okay I'll inform Quistis." Nida switched channels and called to Quistis. "Zell's ready." "The boy's a genius." Quistis responded candidly. "Don't tell him that he'll get a swollen head." "I hear you. Everyone's in position. Where's Irvine?" "He's going to ride down with Zell." "I understand, Quistis out." "You folks seem to have things running smoothly." Seifer said absently. "It's what we where trained for, it's part of being a SEED." Nida replied. Seifer twitched, as the memory of his failure to graduate stung at him. Yet another failure, he realized. Fujin's turn to try now and even though things between them were bad, he wished her luck. ********************************* A mechanical roar announced its approach. All heads turned as the battered form of the Ragnarok rose from behind Balamb Garden. Hovering haphazardly, the scarred mecha drifted over to the field where the student's waited. Quistis moved out in front of them and ushered them back just in case something happened with the landing. Zell, Fujin and Selphie had worked a miracle getting the metal beast up and running again. Still, she didn't want to take unnecessary risks. Metal groaned but stood strong as the ship landed, jerkily the loading ramp lowered and Quistis waved the students onboard. "Just like we planned everyone, we land, you disembark on a tri-grouped sweep of the area. Secure the area from hostile forces, rescue in survivors and evac them to the Ragnarok. It is imperative that if you encounter Luccian that you evacuate immediately and call in for back up." "Miss Trepe?" Royce shouted over the roar of Ragnarok's engines. "Yes Royce?" "What about Archibald?" "Same thing goes for him too, we can't be certain of his status." Quistis said firmly. "Understood." He frowned. "Take your seats, we'll be dusting off in three." Quistis ordered then made her way to Ragnarock's bridge. Squall, Xu and Irvine where already taking their seat when she arrived. Zell looked over his shoulder and waved. "Quistis, glad you could join us." "Wouldn't miss it for the world." Quistis droned. "We're only going to assassinate one of my students." She sighed sadly. "Cheer up little lady, hell this bucket will probably fall apart before we get there." Irvine joked, hoping to lighten her mood. "Hey now I busted my as getting this baby ready, she'll hold together." Zell said defensively. "Quistis, remember what Edea and Seifer said. If Luccian found Griever he's dead already." "Look I don't give a damn about what Seifer said he can rot for all I care." Quistis snapped angrily. Squall took the outburst in stride and sat back. Quistis rested her head in her hands and sighed. "I'm sorry it just that, I've got a lot on my mind." "No need to apologize." Squall shrugged. "Yeah Quisty our dear commander here is hard as stone." Irvine chuckled. "Stoned is more like it, Squall you're too laid back man, you got to get fired up now and then." "No thanks." Squall soured, having no desire to be like either of them. "Glad to see everyone is okay with this." Quistis mumbled. "That’s not fair Quisty, we're all stressing out over this, we just deal with it differently. Make no mistake, we know and fully understand what has to be done." Irvine frowned, growing serious. "I suppose, I'm just being a bitch guys I'm sorry." "Ahem, lift off in 3, 2, 1." Zell said not wanting to take the bait. The ships engines fired to life in sputtering burst of flame and a horrendous racket as the entire ship shuttered. "Zell?" Squall said dangerously. "Calm down boss, she's just got gas, give it a moment." Zell assured him. Sure enough the ships engines coughed once then backfired before settling into a steady stream of blue-white flame. "Your disgusting." Xu said to Zell as if stating a well-known fact before turning her attention to her laptop. "Royce, how's things down in the hold?" Quistis called over her headset. "Fine and dandy ma'am, though Fujin is asleep." The young man answered. Quistis couldn't help but chuckle. "Let her sleep for a bit, she's been working hard in the hanger all week. We'll be arriving at out destination in about twenty minutes. You guys check your maps, the terrain is somewhat mountainous I don't want you guys getting lost." "Already doing that." Royce said, Quistis was glad he had initiative. She just hoped his over eagerness didn't get him in trouble. "Good man, I'll contact you guys when we get ready to land." She told him before switching off her headset and settling comfortably in her seat. Fujin had the right idea, best to take a catnap while she had a chance. It only took a few moments before she drifted off. ************************** "There they go." Selphie sighed putting her hands on the glass of the bridge's observation deck "Yup." Nicole frowned. "They'll be okay." Nida said cheerfully. "You're like a buncha of old women." Seifer growled from where he sat against a far wall. "Shut up." Selphie snapped lightly, she didn't have it in her anymore to worry about such a lowlife. "Just ignore him, he's mad because he was left behind." Nida said knowingly. Seifer's guards where seated nearby playing a game of Triple Triad, both young men were listening to the exchange with interest, as they've come to enjoy the goings on of Balamb's Elite. Seifer looked at the two sourly. "You guys must eat this stuff up." "Let's see, after you used to make our lives a living hell when we where freshmen. Hmm, yeah you could say that we're eating this up." The first guard said with obvious sarcasm. His companion laughed and nodded his agreement. Seifer rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Kids with grudges, how cute. You girls have a name? Hell, since you're on me like ticks I guess should know what you call you. Though I'm sure I can think of something." He smiled foully. "I'm Nathan, he's Josh." The first guard said simply before going back to his game. Seifer snorted derisively then closed his eyes in thought. This was not what he had hoped for; everything had gone to crap. *********** The Ragnarok hugged low to the ground skimming over the barren rocky landscape. Moving swiftly it soon approached the compound. Zell switched to a more silent flight mode as he prepared to land. He scanned the area for a clearing the Police made in secret; it would put them near are western loading gate that was hardly used. The Ragnarok's exterior lights went dark as it began it's decent. The landing was anything but smooth, the landing strut's hydraulics where still sluggish and the entire craft groaned and shuttered as the ship sat down. In the cargo hold, the students cursed and complained at being jostled about. Quistis cut Zell a look and he shrugged sheepishly. "Hey we're here in one piece aren't we." "Everyone get ready." Quistis called into her headset. "Lowering the Ramp." Xu said, flipping a switch. The two women stood then made their way to the cargo bay. "Time to go to work boys." Irvine sighed. "Oh yeah." Zell shouted eagerly. Squall said nothing as they made their way outside. The students were gathered around the ship securing the parameter. Royce and the other squad leaders met Quistis at the loading ramp. "Everything's clear ma'am." He reported. "Good job, start your infiltration, remember intelligence reports say the bulk of the workers are in the warehouse and factories in the west wing, as well as the northern office structures. Confine your search to those areas and secure them, Squall's team will head to Czar's residence on the eastern side of the compound, we've reason to believe Luccian is there." Quistis ordered. "Will do." Royce nodded then trotted off to gather the others. "Where are Squall and the others?" Quistis frowned looking around. "They've done took off." Xu said absently pointing to a hole in the nearby fence as she set up her surveillance and monitoring equipment. "Damn it, thanks for letting me know guys." Quistis frowned. "Calm down, the guys know what they're doing. Or are you mad because you get to sit this one out?" Xu smirked. "Welcome to the club." "No it's not that. Oh never mind." Quistis grumbled. "Now that we're alone. How about you tell me how things are going between you and Fujin?" "I don't think now is the time." "Why not, everyone is moving out it's just you and me here." "It's a mess." "I gathered; she's watching you by the way." Xu said quietly. Quistis didn't turn to look out of fear of how she'd react. Fujin was sitting under a tree waiting to head out. She seemed tired, and wore a haunted, lost look on her pale face. "She's miserable you know and so are you." Xu said softly. "You two need to make up." Xu spoke somberly "How?" Quistis sighed. "It starts with, I'm sorry." "I tried, oh Hyne knows I tried." "So you're giving up?" Xu frowned. "Of course not! She just, she needs time I guess, I don't want to push her away." "Better not wait to long, people do stupid things, when they're hurt." Xu said knowingly. "I know." Quistis mumbled sadly. She turned slowly to regard Fujin but was too late, she was already gone. ****************** Royce, Aeka and Fujin made their way through the fence. They were alone, the other teams having already went their separate ways. "This is awesome." Royce smiled excitedly as they crouched behind a stack of rotten, wood pallets. The wind was whistling faintly amid the closely spaced buildings and moon bathed the area in eerie blue glow. "So you say." Aeka frowned. "Come on this is it, the big time." He whispered. "Don't you agree Fujin?" Fujin looked at him blankly, waiting. Royce suddenly felt like an idiot. "Right... Okay, we're at plant one; we'll start here. I'll take the employee entrance. Fujin you take the loading dock and Aeka you take the fire exit in case someone tries to slip past us. Got it?" Fujin stood and headed towards the dock without a word. "I'm ready." Aeka smiled and gave a salute. "Cute, be careful." Royce smirked as they split up. The outside of the loading dock was cluttered with large crates, and large tractor-trailers. Fujin strolled casually amid them making her way to the stairs leading inside the main building. She readied her weapon, the chakram's circular blue steel blade glinting in the darkness. The door leading inside the dock was metal and looked fairly solid. She tried the doorknob tentatively and found it unlocked. Opening the door a smell hit her, the stench of burning hair and rotten meat. Frowning, she walked inside to dimly lit room expecting the worse and was not disappointed. Several bodies lay heaped atop each other in stinking piles. Some of the corpse still smoldered from where they'd been set afire. A light came on from an office at the far end of the dock. Ducking silently behind a crate to hide from sight she peered around it curiously. A figure came out of the office, even in the shadow Fujin could tell it was no longer human. As it walked it bent crazily forward and backwards at the waist as if it's torso wasn't firmly attached to its hips. In it's hand it dragged a rifle by the barrel. It somehow knew she was there and began lumbering towards her. Fujin sighed and stepped out from behind the crate. As it moved closer Fujin was certain it was not alive. Once a living person, what approached was nothing more than a perversion of life and death. The man's features were taut and his mouth hung agape in a look of terror that had frozen on him in death. Fujin sighed and let fly her blade. The chakram sliced through the air and neatly severed the creature's head before whistling back to her hand. To her surprise the body did not fall and still ambled towards her general direction. Fujin raised her hand and brought it down in a swiping motion. A bolt of lighting erupted from above the creature and blasted what remained of the corpse to twitching pieces. Royce was the first to come running after the thunderclap sounded. He skidded into the room and paused to stare horror at the scene before him. Aeka was next and she came running clumsily and running into Royce's back. "What was that is everyone okay?" She stammered before screaming in fright at the stack of bodies. Royce spun around clamped a hand over her mouth. "Aeka be quiet." He hissed. "We need anymore attention. Fujin what happened?" Fujin took a step and rolled the severed head towards him with her foot. The head rolled about in a lazy circle in front of him before coming to a rest. It's face twisted and flexed, still animated by unwholesome energies. Aeka began hopping up and down making high-pitched noises. Her eyes went wide as saucers and she looked about ready to freak. Royce was speechless and just stared at the severed head in shock. Fujin walked towards them with a dangerous glint in her eye. Royce looked at her dumbfounded. "WELL?" Fujin asked dryly. "Wh-what?" Royce blinked. "People." Aeka murmured. "DECISION." Fujin asked clarifying. "How do I know!?" Royce balked. "It's a human, I how can you just?" Fujin scowled; there was little time for either of them freezing up. "WHAT, KILL?" Fujin snapped, not liking the mightier than thou tone in his voice. Aeka felt ill and leaned against a pallet of crates. "It's not like they're some kinda monster." "THEY ARE." Fujin shouted pointing down at the head trying feeble to bite at Royce's ankles. Aeka looked around; the girl was positively green. "Fujin's right, Royce, they aren't people anymore. Remember what Miss Trepe said. We knew this was a possibility." "Hyne you both make it sound so blasé, Aeka can't believe you're calm about this." Royce frowned feeling his insides twist from stress. "I'm not Royce, but we have to do what we came to do." Aeka said sadly. "WHAT NOW?" Fujin asked. "How am I supposed to know, I wasn't expecting this." "WAS IN BRIEFING." Fujin growled. "Yeah, but I mean." He looked down around in confusion. "This is just, it's not right." Aeka took his hand in his and he found her trembling. "This hard huh?" She said quietly. "Yeah." Royce sighed. "I'll help you through if you help me." Aeka smiled hopefully. "NEED TO MOVE." Fujin said, hating to interrupt their little moment. "Where?" Royce moaned. "YOUR IN CHARGE." Fujin said arching a curious brow. "Yeah." Royce sighed. "QUISTIS DEPENDING ON YOU." "Come on Royce." Aeka said squeezing his hand. "Who knows perhaps we can save some people, if we hurry." Fujin truly believed that to be foolish optimism but remained silent, she would let them have their hopes if it helped them through. However, her own hopes were dying though, things had gotten so out of hand with Quistis that she didn't even know how to begin to recover. She was doing good trying to keep it at the back of her mind but Aeka and Royce's exchange brought it to the front of her mind. "Okay." Royce said firmly, taking a deep breath. We finish out sweep and radio it in, we'll then move to plant two." Something fell hard between them, bathed in s swirling could of inky darkness it caught Fujin in the chest with a solid blow sending her skidding backwards on her heel. Aeka screamed in shock and ducked as it swung again. Royce wasn't so lucky was caught the blow full to the face sending him backwards into a pile of crates. "Royce!" Aeka stood and screamed oblivious to the smoke covered thing bearing down on her. Skeletal talons appeared from the arm of the cloud as it swiped at her. "DUCK." Fujin screamed, throwing her chakram. Aeka dived out of the way as the blade passed through the creature harmlessly. Royce was just getting up when the blade buried itself in the crate he was leaning against, just inches above his head. "HYNE!" He yelped scrambling to his feet. Fujin cursed her luck and began channeling a spell then paused as the apparition fell in half where her blade passed through. A smirk crossed her face and she started to move toward Aeka and Royce. Her expression melted however as both halves of the creature grew to become two identical copies of the original. A torrent of curses escaped her lips as both apparitions charged her. ****************** Celest was dying of boredom. Stuck with the terribly dull duty of covering the high ground she sat quietly atop a water tower overlooking the compound. Rinoa was with her as well as one of Celest's classmates; a plump lad named Merv who was self-proclaimed expert with long range offensive spells. Though in Celest's opinion he should have said smells, seeing how Merv apparently had an irritable bowel. A topic he apparently loved talking about, seeing as he mentioned it over four times in the hour since they took their position. It finally got to the point where she had to use her position as team leader and ordered him to shut up. Methodically she scanned the area through the night-vision scope on her rifle. Like her brother Irvine, she was a crack shot, a talent that apparently ran in their veins. Rinoa was oddly quiet as she too scanned the area with night-vision goggles. Celest assumed she was worried about Squall. Looking over her shoulder she whispered to Rinoa. "You're awfully quiet." "I'm okay." Rinoa said with a small smile. "Worried about Squall?" "Not to much, I'm sure he'll be fine." "Then what's on your mind." "It's silly really." Rinoa shrugged, looking back out over the compound. "Go ahead and tell me." Celest prodded as she too resumed her scans. "Oh, its about Seifer." She sighed. "Big guy seems to be the favorite topic around here." Celest chuckled. "Yeah I suppose." "I take it you two where an item once." "How could you tell?" "I just can. Was it serious?" "I think so, but I don't know if he thought so." "Cute guy like that, a shame he's damaged goods." "Yeah, well it's a mess ya know, I don't think its all his fault." "To a point, but I remember him when he came to Galbadia. He acted like such a jerk. The only reason folks listened to him was because they where scared of Edea." "I feel sorry for him kinda. I know it's weird, but, sometimes I hate what he's done, but then, deep down I know he never meant for things to turn out like they did. Seifer's not evil, he's tortured, he had such high goals and dreams and they all collapsed around him. Sure, he's rude and a jerk sometimes, but I remember at times he could be sweet and kind." "So what's the deal with him and Fujin then. Rumor has it he did something horrible to her." Celest asked guardedly. "I don't know." Rinoa frowned in dismay. "That was long before I even knew him. I just can't imagine him doing something like that." "Um didn't he try to feed you to some monster?" "Adel, but that wasn't his fault Ultimecia was controlling him." "You ever think the boy has dark side, a side he can't control. He's seems awfully cocky and prideful. Those can be bad traits to have if you denied your desires and loose everything you have." "I guess, I've heard has a temper, but I never saw it. I tried talking to Squall about him but he wouldn't have it." "A shame, he's such a stud. To bad he's a heartbreaker, I'd ask him out." "Who knows, he could be serious when he claims to have changed." "Be careful thinking like that sugar, a zebra can't change's his stripes." Celest frowned. "I have hope, ever heard of redemption?" "That's awfully nice of you considering you're spats with ole Fujin." "That’s different." "It is not." Celest laughed. "It is, I don't like her for personal reasons. It has nothing to do with her past." "I know, that makes it even funnier." "Please." Rinoa scoffed. "You're just mad cause she took your friend from you. Plain old green eye-jealousy and everyone knows it." "Humpf!" Rinoa grumbled deeming the comment beneath response. "Still though, Seifer, what a crying shame." Celest sighed with longing. "I'd never break your heart." Merv said sweetly, leaning towards her and smiling with teeth as yellow as his sickly looking eyes. "Gah, get to your post you troll." Celest winced shooing him away. "She wants me." The pear shaped youth snorted laughingly at Rinoa. "Oh definitely." Rinoa smirked. ************** Fujin wasn't surprised by the sudden turn of events. Combat had a marvelous tendency to be erratic and unpredictable. Case in point, thanks to the blow from the chakram along with Aeka's and Royce's rapid castings of lightning. Their group now found themselves surrounded by no fewer than fifteen of the misty apparitions. The dark clouds forming the creatures' bodies roiled with ghostly faces and the occasional bone, bobbing about as if caught within a windstorm. Royce had taken a blow across the chest, the skeletal claws having barely grazed him but the wound was already a purple festering mess. The creatures kept a healthy distance for the moment. Fujin had incinerated the one attacking Royce with a fairly low-level fire spell buying them some time. "Idea's?" Aeka asked hopefully. Fujin toyed with the idea of summoning Pandemonia. Royce however had other ideas and crossed his wrists in front of him. He was immediately wreathed in a hellish orange glow. Clenching his teeth he snarled fiercely. "ROYCE!" Fujin shouted, having a clue as to what he was about to do. "Wha?" Aeka blinked stepping away from him. A swirling vortex of fire erupted around him, spreading outward to encompass the three of them. The inferno spread outward screaming its fury as it went. Aeka shouted in fear as the flames engulfed her. She was surprised to find herself unhurt and looked about in wide-eyed wonder. "Wow." She breathed as the apparitions where washed away in the conflagration. As quickly as it started the bulk of the fire died out leaving several crates and boxes burning. "Ha, take that!" Royce shouted in triumph, "RUN." Fujin screamed grabbing him by the collar. "Huh, why!?" Royce yelped as she nearly yanked him off his feet. "What is it?" Aeka asked as she started to follow. "What's the problem? We beat...them..." She said, the words dying on her lips. In the light of the fire she noticed the stenciled lettering on several of the burning boxes. -CAUTION EXPLOSIVES- HANDLE WITH CARE **************** Quistis sat monitoring the radio signals. Several encounters with hostile creatures had been reported, and all were dispatched with little trouble. "North and East sides are nearly under are control. Looks like this is going over like clockwork. Funny though, there should be more resistance than what we've encountered." Xu noted, from behind her laptop. "I know, I'm worried, there were nearly six hundred employee's here. If they're not undead where the hell are they? We haven't found any survivors either." Quistis frowned. "That’s the Question of the hour. Perhaps they're in one of the underground bunkers?" Xu shrugged. "Call Squall if they found anything." The sky lit up as if daylight, as a small mushroom cloud rose from one of the buildings. Everything seemed to move in slow motion a moment before chaos exploded around them. The shock wave threw Quistis and Xu to the ground in a heap and the roar of the explosion pummeled them mercilessly. Quistis screamed in pain as feedback screeched into her headset. "What the holy hell!" Xu shouted as burning debris rained down on them. Quistis writhed on the ground clutching her ears while Xu scrambled back to her seat. "Celest! Report, what the hell happened!" She screamed putting on her headset. "I.. I don't know, plant one just exploded, we're heading that away now!" "Plan't one, shit, Fujin." Xu paled and looked at Quistis horrified. "Xu, Quistis!" Squall's voice broke in over the line. "Come in do you read me, what happened?" "Hold on I'm getting reports now." Xu shouted impatiently. Quistis staggered to her feet and moved towards Xu, everything sounded garbled as if underwater. She asked what was going on; not that she could hear any answer. Looking in the distance she saw the remains of the burning building and squinted uncomprehendingly. Her mind not wanting to consider the possibility of what happened. Xu grabbed her arm and spun her around, she was yelling something but all Quistis could hear was a dull roar. ********************** Celest's team arrived first on the scene, burnt corpses lay scattered everywhere and Rinoa looked in horror as it dawned on her that any of them could be her friends. "No." She whimpered as she went about the grim task of checking the bodies. "This is so bad." Celest frowned as she set about digging through the rubble. Their companion, Merv, waved his hands in the air madly; a huge orb of water appeared over the center of the inferno. With a loud splash it crashed into the heart of the fire and flowed outward extinguishing a large portion of it. Other students quickly arrived and started to help dig through the rubble looking for missing comrades. Quistis and Xu arrived moments later. Xu surveyed the scene for a brief moment before screeching at everyone. "Everyone back off now, move away." She shouted seeing a burnt, battered crate full of grenades. "The area contains unexploded material, keep back!" Quistis wouldn't have listened even if she could've heard her. Stumbling through the debris she stopped and fell to her knees. Xu carefully made her way to her and crouched by her side. Gently she touched her shoulder to getting her attention. Quistis turned her head to regard her. The look on her face chilled Xu to the core; it was like looking into the eyes off death itself. Silently Quistis lifted her hand and in it she held the scorched half-melted remains of Fujin's chakram.
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