+ final fantasy viii: a promise unfulfilled 2
"Captain!" A SeeD shouted across the fray, "should we retreat?"
"NEGATIVE," The strong voice of Fujin rang out across the distance to where the SeeD stood. "We do not retreat."
"The enemy's too strong!" the SeeD continued, "we'll get crushed!"
"We will die, then." Fujin answered, "did nobody tell you Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori?"
"What in Hyne's name does that mean?" the SeeD asked, even more confused.
"It means that you will die for your country, but honourably" A cadet spoke up, "I've read it before."
"Thanks for that, smarty." The SeeD, Kira answered as she pushed a strand of red-blonde hair out of her eyes.
"Kira, you're the one that wanted to know," Adam replied nonchalantly.
"Shut up, we've gotta fight" Kira snapped as she loaded the gun and aimed at a Galbadian Soldier.
Across the fray, people were being slaughtered. Not just SeeD, but other factions fighting against Galbadia. Many were Estharians, a few people from Winhill and a few from Dollet had also joined up.
"RETREAT!" Fujin called over the fray, her voice booming with her authority.
"Rodger," Kira nodded as she acknowledged the captain's orders.
Kira used an AK-47 as her primary weapon, and was damn good with it. She would probably rival Irvine with her skills as a sniper, and also a close range fighter. Kira was also trained in unarmed combat, should her weapon become damaged, or even lost.
Her friend, Adam, on the other hand, used a gunblade, like Squall and Seifer did. Adam's gunblade was not the same make or model as the Hyperion or Lionheart, but was completely unique. It's gun was a pistol and the blade was similar to the Katana's, rounded at the end, but still sharp enough to pierce the opponent's armour and break the arm. Like Kira, he was also trained in unarmed combat.
Across the battle, Fujin aimed her shuriken at a retreating Galbadian combatant, and decapitated his head with one clean swipe. She smiled viciously as the soldier fell dead on the battlefield.
Fujin ran like the wind, like her elemental alignment, the wind Guardian Force, Pandemonia. She and her team ran towards refuge, and into the cavern that was supposed to form their shelter.
Seifer stood at the entrance, guarding their base from any soldier attacking it. It was a very wearisome duty, but he prevailed. In the midst of all the shit that went on behind the façade of the cool and collected military personnel, Seifer was one of the very few people SeeD and Esthar could trust.
"Captain," Kira brought the man out of his reverie.
"Kira, report to lab duty. Adam, clean the weapons. Fujin, write to my wife and tell her that everything is ok" Seifer ordered the three SeeDs, and they saluted him smartly.
"Rodger" Kira said with a smirk vaguely reminiscent of Seifer's famous one.
'I hate lab duty', she thought, pushing the wisps of red-blonde hair out of her eyes. Kira had every reason to hate the long hours spent guarding O-Lab in Esthar City. For one thing, nobody ever bothered to visit the once-renowned Odine any longer. He had fallen from grace after Loire's death two months ago, and the ascension of Loire's very taciturn son, Squall.
It had been Squall's idea to make lab duty a priority. Even though there were no monsters roaming around after the Lunar Cry had been fully terminated with the shattering of the Crystal Pillar inside Lunatic Pandora, there was still the risk of 'lab attendants' infiltrating the lab. Security had to be tight.
Kira glanced around the lab, humming softly as she touched the comm. Unit on her arm. "Everything clear, sir. Permission for standby?"
The unit blinked a few times, and then Seifer's voice came loudly over the system. "Not granted. Kira, you know the drill. Remain in place until instructed to do so by either me or Fujin." The comm. buzzed a few times, and then went silent.
'Damn', Kira thought, 'not good at all'. She looked around, and saw the reason Seifer wanted her to remain.
Around the other side of the glass screen that protected the doctor and his lab assistants from any harm, a shadowy figure moved across the room. Kira let out a low scream as she saw the figure turn around, and look directly at her.
Kira could not remember being so scared in all her life. The figure moved out from behind the screen, and glanced at her once more with disdain. It spoke, and its words came out in a low hiss.
"So you are the one who has been watching me all these months," the voice hissed. A man, dressed in an ancient robe, like robes Kira had seen in books about Hyne and her Warriors stood facing her.
"I don't know what you mean" Kira gasped, the urge to scream loudly increasing with the moments.
"You do know very well what I mean, Kira," the man said, as he said her name.
"Who are you?" Kira asked, her curiosity piqued, and her terror forgotten by the irresistible urge for knowledge.
"My name is of little importance, Kira... It only matters about you... What brings you to the battlefields of the Kashabald Mountains?"
"I still don't know what you mean," Kira stammered, the urge to scream for help rising once more.
The demon crossed the room, and grasped Kira's hand roughly. "Do not mock me, Kira of the Serengetti Plains. I know your true nature. You cannot hide from your master."
"I don't understand, I really don't" Kira's voice faltered as she spoke, a gentle sobbing was heard, and Adam stepped into the room.
The demon let out a low, frightening growl as he raised his giant wings.
"Let her go!" Adam shouted, his gunblade at the ready.
"So, this is your new slave?" The demon taunted Kira as she tried to stop the demon attacking.
"Never. Let me go, Sarkis!" Kira finally remembered who the demon was. "So, YOU were the one that destroyed the village?"
"Very clever," Sarkis hissed as he turned to Adam. "As for you, boy... What makes you think that you can ever defeat me?"
"He can't" Seifer's voice broke the rising tension between the demon and the SeeD. "Sarkis, so we meet again."
A/N... Sorry to leave you at a cliff-hanger. Let me know what you think. Comments, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and flames are appreciated...I don't give a damn about flames; I've had enough of them in the IWF to know that people will always have something bad to say, regardless.
Thanks soooo much, Alonia for reviewing the first chapter...Sorry if this one isn't Seiftis...