Kira twitched and hid behind Squall which made Rinoa twitch, but she accepted the fact that Kira looked to Squall as her only pillar of strength, her only protection provider. Lina stepped forward, clutching the long wrapped item with great force. She didn't usually get involved in these kinds of situations, but since she would be one of the people fighting, she figured she'd better just get it all over with.
"Go to hell you bastard!" Lina screamed at the mysterious man in black. The face under his hood could barely be seen, but the group could distinguish unattractive and evil features to his face and his hunched over figure. A sparkle could be seen from the corner of where his eye was supposedly located and that was even to scare the crap out of anyone.
"Well, what do we have here?" he asked curiously. Evil smirks were edging out of the sides of his mouth as he spoke. His voice was cold and chilly than gave them all a jolt in their stomachs.
Lina unwrapped the cloth to reveal the long pink sword. As soon as Zell saw what had been in that cloth, he shuddered and sighed, wishing Lina hadn't done that. He knew how great of a sacrifice it would be...for her to use it in combat or how the power of it wouldn't let go of her if she were hurt. She grasped the leathery hilt of the sword and it immediately began to glow. The coffee brown color of Lina's eyes was gone and was replaced with pure black. The cut she had gotten two years ago from her arm seemed to mystically appear again and was now glowing pink like the sword. Squall pulled out his gunblade and stuck it up in a threatening position.
"Don't make me laugh," the man in black scoffed as he flicked his hand swiftly. A seemingly soft undulation of his power crept towards them as they stared at it apprehensively. But, Squall and Lina were suddenly lifted in the air then thrown against the back wall. Squall hit his head over a rock and immediately fell unconscious. Lina had lift her sword out in front of her and dodged to blow to the wall by using the sword as a sort of padding. She crouched on the side of the wall.
When the man put his hand back down, she dropped to the floor skillfully and pulled the sword out of the wall with a small and supposedly easy jerk. She stood up to fight, an angry expression on her face, but a blank, vacant look in her eyes.
"Very skilled with a sword, I see," he stroked his chin in acknowledgement. Lina didn't respond. The only thing on her mind was the sword, how to use it, when to use it, where to use it. She didn't notice that she was the only person fighting him. She didn't notice that everyone else was tending to Squall who had gotten cut in the back of her head and was bleeding pretty badly.