Cid looked up at the blond-haired young man who had entered his office. "Zell, my boy. I have an assignment for you. You are, of course, aware of our situation?"
Zell nodded. "Yes, sir."
Cid smiled slightly. "Good. The less time spent bringing you up to speed, the better. Now, I need you to head for Balamb and check out all the passenger manifests for the ships and trains that have come and gone from the island in the last week. See Miss Trepe for a list of known cyber-criminals and their aliases before you leave, and cross-reference the manifests for a match."
Zell saluted. "Yes, sir." He turned and departed.
Cid turned to look out the window. "Squall. What have you gotten yourself into this time, lad?"
Squall stood on the cold cement outside Edea's house, looking out over the greens, whites, and golds of the field that lay beyond. He could hear Rinoa's voice calling to him.
"Squall," she called to him, "I'm waiting for you."
Squall stepped out into the field, the gentle sea breeze blowing against his face. "Rinoa?" he cried, "Where are you?"
"Squall, I'm here," she called, and Squall saw her. She was fifty yards away, wearing that same dress that she'd been wearing the first time they'd met at Balamb Garden. He started to run toward her, but the wind picked up, blowing against him with the force of a hurricane. It was cold and biting, and Squall fell to his knees. From the midst of the tall grasses, a swarm of Bite Bugs burst forward, surrounding him. He tried to wave them off, but they surrounded him. He cried out...
"Squall!"
Squall's eyes jerked open, and he sat bolt upright. "What? Where am I?" He looked around, trying to make sense of his environment. He heard laughter to his left, and he turned, seeing Laguna sitting beside the bed.
"You okay, Squall?" he asked as his mirth subsided.
Squall nodded, rubbing his head. "I remember the bridge, and the soldiers." He looked up at Laguna. "What happened?"
Laguna sighed. "We fought back, remember? I don't think they expected it. I jumped the guy that attacked you with the poison-tipped knife, but I guess he landed on his own blade. There wasn't anything I could do. The other soldier retreated, which makes things more difficult."
Squall squinted. "I'm still a little fuzzy. How does this change things?"
"Esthar Legal Code 113.457. The murder of a member of the Esthar Armed Forces, whether reserve of active duty, constitutes a first-degree felony that is punishable by execution," Laguna explained. "There'll be a price on our heads now."
Squall swung his feet down onto the floor and hunched forward. "What brain-dead idiot came up with that law?" he demanded.
Laguna looked sheepish. "That's irony for ya, huh?"
Squall shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?" He got to his feet. "So, let's get moving. We need to charter a boat to Dollet."
Laguna held up a hand. "Already done. We leave within the hour."
Squall's eyebrows climbed his forehead in surprise. "I'm impressed."
Laguna laughed. "Shove it."
The two men headed out the door and into the streets of FH. The air was rich with the heady scent of sea spray and fresh fish. Squall looked around. "If I'm not mistaken, there's a shop around here somewhere..."
Laguna's brow furrowed. "What are you looking for?"
"Some items," Squall replied as he headed off. "You don't think I'm going into Deling City to save Rinoa with nothing but my bare hands, do you?"
Laguna shrugged, following his son down the street.
Rinoa paced the floor of her father's office as he typed away at the computer on his desk. Somehow, the Presidential Palace had escaped damage in the attack. She looked out of the untouched pane of glass at the streets below. The red and blue lights of countless emergency vehicles clogged the avenues of the city, cordoning off dangerous areas and rescuing the victims of the attack. Many were beyond the point of rescue.
Rinoa wished she could be one of them. Her heart ached with the loss of the man she loved.
"Please let me go back to Balamb," she pleaded for what seemed like the hundredth time since they had returned to her father's office.
"I have already told you, Rinoa, I will not willingly release you into the hands of those terrorists," Caraway replied, not looking up from the screen.
Rinoa stormed over, slamming her hands down on his desk. "They are NOT terrorists! Those are my friends!"
Caraway looked up at his daughter with a dangerous silence that sent most members of the Galbadian Army scurrying for cover.
Rinoa was unfazed.
Caraway sighed. "I am simply concerned for your safety."
Rinoa didn't want to have this argument again. She turned, folded her arms across her chest, and stomped back to the window.
Zell sat cross-legged on the floor of his mother's house, his brow furrowed in concentration as he double-checked the manifests from the harbor. He had been staring at the papers for over two hours, trying to come up with some match. He had yet to find anything out of the ordinary.
"How's it coming, sweetheart?" Ma Dincht inquired from the kitchen.
"I don't concentrate this hard when I'm summoning Bahamut," Zell grumbled. Ma Dincht chuckled in reply.
Zell growled in frustration. "I gotta get back to the Garden, Ma," he called as he got up.
Ma Dincht came out of the kitchen and kissed her son good-bye. "Take care of yourself, Zell. Come back and visit again soon."
"I will, Ma," Zell promised as he rushed out the door. He was barely up the steps to the street when he ran headlong into a passerby. The two men collapsed in a heap on the pavement.
"Hey, sorry, man, I-"
Zell did a double take. "Zone?"
Zone nodded, grimacing.
"Are you all right, man?" Zell inquired.
"I will be...if you get off my stomach," Zone grunted.
"Oh, shit!" Zell cried, jumping to his feet. He helped Zone up and smiled apologetically. "So what brings you here, pal?"
Zone took a moment to massage his tender midsection before answering. "I have information...but I don't want to talk about it here. Take me back to Garden. We'll talk there."
Zell nodded quickly in agreement. "Let's get rolling. I'll pick up a rental and we'll drive back."
The harbor of Fisherman's Horizon was constantly teeming with sailboats, pontoons, trawlers, and powerboats. The rich and varied aquatic life that filled the surrounding waters drew amateur and professional fishermen alike from all over the world. Its peace-loving, laid-back atmosphere attracted thousands of tourists annually.
Thus, no one even noticed the single fishing trawler, with its fugitive passengers, sailing out of port for Dollet.
Quistis jumped as Zell and Zone burst into the room. She spun around in her chair, hand clutching her chest. "Zell Dincht!" she berated him. "You scared me half to death."
"Sorry, Quis," Zell apologized, "but look who I bumped into."
Zone peeked out from behind Zell, waving shyly. Hyne, he thought. She's even more beautiful than I remember.
"Zone," she greeted him with a tired smile. "How have you been?"
"I, um, uh, fine, I guess," Zone stammered.
"What brings you to Garden?" Quistis inquired, cocking her head slightly to one side in that way she had that made Zone weak in the knees. He stared at her for several moments before Zell prodded him in the ribs.
"The info, man," Zell chuckled, enjoying Zone's embarrassment.
"Oh, yeah," Zone replied, remembering what he had found. "I heard about what happened in Galbadia and Esthar, and I figured that President Caraway wasn't behind it. I mean, he's not stupid enough to start a war with Esthar this soon after the Second Sorceress War."
Quistis cocked an eyebrow, and Zone pressed on quickly. "So, anyway, I put out the word on the street, and someone made some purchases at the shops in Timber the other day. Whoever the guy was, he purchased several fake ID's, a dozen Hi-Potions, and a train ticket to Balamb. He must have used one of the fake names."
"I didn't see any known aliases on the manifest," Zell protested.
"That doesn't mean anything, Zell," Quistis pointed out. "We were weeding out known suspects. This guy might be a first-timer, or he might be so good that he's never been caught, so he doesn't have a record."
"So, what's the plan then, Quis?" Zell pressed.
Quistis stood up. "The three of us will go to Timber and speak with Zone's informant. We'll get the listing of names, and figure out where to go from there."
Laguna watched as Squall opened the tool kit that he had borrowed from the trawler's captain. Squall rummaged around inside the box for a few moments before extracting a screwdriver and two clamps. He then reached behind him and pulled a shopping bag into his lap. Opening the bag, he extracted a long-barreled revolver and what looked like an animal's horn. Laguna walked over and sat down beside his son.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Squall was silent for a moment as he pulled a small hand-drill from the tool kit at his feet. He drilled several holes into the revolver, just behind the barrel, and then set the weapon aside. "I'm arming myself," he replied. He picked up the animal horn and a saw, and then began hacking away a portion at the base.
"What's that?" Laguna asked.
"It's a Mesmerize Blade," Squall answered as he set the removed section of horn aside. "I was lucky to find one. I thought I was going to have to make do with something much worse."
Laguna watched as Squall fitted the Mesmerize Blade to the gun, made some measurements, and then removed it again. He drilled the corresponding holes into the blade, and re-fitted it to the gun. He reached into his pocket and extracted a handful of screws.
"So, this is how a gunblade is made, huh?"
Squall arched an eyebrow at him as he screwed the Mesmerize Blade into place. "You have an interrogative gift. You must have been quite a journalist at one time."
"Was that sarcasm?" Laguna asked.
Squall shook his head. "Not at all." He set the screwdriver inside the tool kit, reached into the bag once more, and pulled out six hollow-point bullets, which he loaded into the gun.
Laguna marveled at the craftsmanship of such a quickly manufactured weapon. Squall had, with practiced ease, carved out just enough of the Mesmerize Blade so as to allow free and easy loading of the revolver. The screws had affixed the blade firmly in place on the gun. Squall examined the weapon with an experienced eye, nodded to himself, and stood up, sheathing the weapon at his side.
"It's nice," Laguna observed.
"Not quite so nice as the Lionheart, but since I was forced to leave that with your guards, this Cutting Trigger will have to do," Squall replied, his eyes not leaving the horizon.
"Listen, Squall, I-"
Squall held up a hand to cut him off. "Look, Laguna, I understand, OK. I understand all that I can at this point. All that I want right now is to find Rinoa. I appreciate your help, and it's done a lot toward mending the past. Let's just leave things the way they are for now, OK?"
Laguna sighed. "OK, man, if you insist."
Squall nodded. "I insist." He looked over to Laguna. "We should be arriving in Dollet in a half-hour. I'm going to return the tools to the captain and prepare for our arrival."
Laguna watched him leave, then turned back to the ocean and leaned against the railing.
