Zell had been searching for Lina for maybe three months now, and his companions, Irvine and Squall, were becoming restless. "I'm tired!" Irvine complained and Squall agreed. Irvine plopped himself down on the side of a hill looking down into a flat valley. "Where are we anyway?"
"Map says we're out in the...Calm Lands? Lina is somewhere out here, I know it," Zell said determined. Irvine and Squall exchanged looks then shook it off. They'd already tried multiple time to convince Zell to give up his search and head back to Garden--there were still things to take care of back at Garden. "Hey, guys. What's that's over there?" Zell pointed into the distance and Irvine sat up to get a good look.
It seemed that a herd of--what looked like--dragons chasing a girl into the distance. They sprang up onto their feet and dashed in the direction of the scene; as SeeDs, they were always ready to help where they could. When they approached the figure a sudden bright light flashed out across the fields and they were taken aback. The light was being emitted from none other than the girl and the second it stopped, the dragons fell to the ground, twitching. Their bodies shriveled up and disappeared into the mists of the day as all monsters and fiends supposedly did when destroyed, except here in Spira, pyreflies flew out of their corpses and evaporated into the air to the Farplane.
The three of them moved closer to get a good look at the girl who was now on her knees, breathing deeply. Her eyes painfully concentrated on the patch of grass before her. "Are you alright, Miss?" Zell asked. The girl looked up to see who had addressed her and immediately, Zell saw the coffee brown eyes which were unmistakable for those of Lina's. "LINA!" Zell shouted, but the girl suddenly collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.
Another girl dashed into the scene quickly, two following closely behind her. The first one looked a lot like Squall with the hair, outfit, and everything. She tried to ward them off by yelling and prodding them with her sword. The other two girls were attempting to carry the one that had fallen and bringing her off somewhere near the Calm Lands.
"Stay back!" the first said, swinging her sword around in a fashion that threatened them much like a trainer would to tame a lion. "Who are you and what do you want with Zeku?" Squall blinked a second, but then recognized her moves, her voice, her look.
"Paine?" Squall was the first to speak of the three men. Her eyes narrowed and her grip on the hilt of her sword tightened quite a bit. It was the same fear she had felt when she was with the Crimson Squad and suddenly Shuyin had attacked with his desolation and despair.
"Who are you? How do you know me?" Paine demanded, trying to stare him down, but could not win against Squall--who was definitely the master of all glares, sarcastic and serious. Squall pulled his gunblade out of its scabbard and showed Paine the design of the legendary Guardian Force Griever on it. "Leonhart! Is that you?"
"Put the sword down, Paine," Squall said firmly. Paine dropped it with ease and looked up at him. She smiled when she realized she was gazing up at the legendary figure of Squall Leonhart, one of the best gunbladers there were, Lionstrike for short. They had a history together, not romantically, but training together when they were young, perhaps only fourteen years old, when Squall had left the orphanage in southern Centra. They had undergone intense training together for many months until they were dispatched to different areas of the world. Their uniforms were always black, short hair, large blades, this was how they had acquired their unique looks and there were only very few of them out there.
"What are you doing here?" Paine asked; her voice seemed much more harsh than Squall had remembered. The years they had been apart really did define the two as separate characters. Paine spoke forcefully and Squall barely spoke at all.
"Looking for Lina," Zell replied instead of Squall. "Have you seen her!? She's a girl with black hair and brown eyes... EXACTLY like her!" Zell pointed to the girl who had collapsed and was now--with a struggle being carried away by the other two girls.
"Lina...I don't recall there being a Lina here," Paine said, her face twisted in thought and concentration. "But you certainly look familiar."