William sat on the floor with his back against the wall of his bedroom, a pair of splintered wooden swords, and the mangled head of the training dummy beside him. He was breathing heavily from the exertion of his sword drills, and his upper body was dripping with sweat. "Damn... Think maybe I overdid it a little", he said, looking at the damage sustained by both the dummy and his practice swords. He quickly toweled himself off, and began sweeping the wood splinters into a dustpan. "I really ought to start ordering these in bulk at the rate I go through them", he mumbled. His eyes shifted towards the clock in his room, and he was surprised at how much time had passed already. "Oh, damnit, I'm going to be late if I take the time to clean this up properly... Well, I guess it'll all still be here when I get back", he said, as he grabbed his vest and equipment. As he put on his gear, he accidentally knocked a photograph off of his desk, shattering the glass when it landed. "Oh, shit... well, one more thing to sweep up when I get back", he said, kneeling down to pick the frame up. He looked at the photograph before putting it back in its place, and something caught his eye that he hadn't noticed before. In the picture, he was wearing a necklace. He recognized it as being significant to him, yet he couldn't remember where it had come from. In the photograph, he was standing next to Alara, the first person who recognized him when he had escaped the facility. Up until now, he had assumed they were simply teammates, but looking more closely at this picture, he had the vague impression that she had given him that necklace. He was beginning to wonder if they had been more than comrades. "Fuck, what am I doing? I need to leave. I don't have time for this right now", he said, as he left the room, turning off the lights, and locking the door behind him.
Some time later, he had, at last, joined up with his team, and they set out. Koemi was the first to speak as they’d started walking toward Balamb, asking Swain about his GF. Evidently, he carried Leviathan, Kyra held Diablos, and Koemi had junctioned Quezacotl. William was sure that at one point he, too, had utilized a Guardian Force, but he had no recollection of it. No memory of what it was like to house another entity inside of his mind. Thinking about it now seemed totally bizarre, yet at one point he was sure he'd been as indifferent to the idea as any of the rest of them. His attention was drawn back towards his team when Koemi challenged Swain to a fight, though Swain declined. Koemi's expression soured at the response. William thought that perhaps this would be a good opportunity to test out his team.
"If you're looking for a warm-up, I suppose I could accommodate you." Steele said, accepting her challenge.
"Oh you don't have to Mr Steele, I don't want to waste your time.” she responded. Steele was somewhat surprised, she had challenged Swain without a second thought, yet she seemed almost afraid to test herself against him. He'd noticed a similar fear in a lot of people since his return from the facility. Almost nobody was willing to spar with him, and against monsters, most of his training partners seemed to be primarily focused on staying out of his way.
"Is it you, or your guardian force that wants a fight?", Kyra asked, returning Steele's attention to the present. An interesting thought, a Guardian Force trying to get its host to fight. Did GFs enjoy combat, or was it simply trying to help the girl get some combat experience? The very nature of a Guardian Force was difficult to understand, let alone its motivations.
"Anyway... I vote Mr Steele should be our leader" Koemi said, changing the topic quickly. It seemed she was trying to ignore Kyra for some reason. He hoped that whatever was going on between them wouldn't conflict with the mission.
"No objections here" said Swain with his hands in his pockets
He had only just noticed the new topic of conversation. "Leader?", he asked with a slight, but noticeable sense of disbelief. "Who in their right mind would choose a man who had 'died' along with the rest of his squad on the last mission he had lead?", he thought, though his doubt was quickly displaced by thoughts of the alternatives. "Hmm... I don't know much about this Swain, but he seems a little too passive. Koemi seems a bit too... green. Only Odinhart is really a viable alternative.", he thought. He looked towards Kyra, hoping to see some sense of disapproval.
"I don't object either, but I can see you're hesitant. Care to share your thoughts, Steele?" Kyra asked.
"She doesn't have a problem with me leading? If my record doesn't concern her, then I have to assume she isn't that interested one way or the other... ergo not a viable alternative. Damn... Guess it has to be me.", he thought, quickly erasing any evidence of doubt from his face. "Hm? Oh, it's nothing, just that I haven't been out in the field for several years, the world has likely changed quite a lot since I was last a part of it.", he answered. He closed his eyes, and stroked his beard for a moment, trying to think of a way to at least distance himself from leadership. "All right. But I'm going to delegate some responsibilities. Who among you has spent the most time in the outside world lately? I need someone who has a better idea of what's been going on in the world than I do to act as an adviser. I'm about 4 years out of date on politics, foreign relations, scandals involving SeeD, and the like.", he said. Though focused on concealing it, he wasn't pleased. It wasn't that he was afraid of losing another squad, on the contrary, after his transformation in Norg's facility, he could take on the mission that wiped out his squad single-handedly; he had never been more fit to protect a team then he was right now. He just didn't like being responsible for the well being of others. He didn't like people looking to him for answers, as if he somehow knew better than they did just because he was the best at killing things.
"Can't help you there, this is my first time going out since I returned and she has been away for two years." said Koemi pointing to Kyra.
"Uhh, yeah. I'm also not originally from this Garden." Kyra seemed annoyed that Koemi had pointed out the facts that disqualified her.
"I do jobs here and there and pick up on a lot of things, I mostly work alone so I'm no good at leading but I can update you." Swain said, offering the only qualifications of note among them.
Steele put his palm to his face and sighed. "Well, I guess it's not going to be much of a debate then. The job is yours.", he said, nodding towards Swain. "Damnit, Leonhart... my first mission since I was put under all those years ago, and you send me with two people as clueless as I am... Did you just send this kid to be our tour guide, or did you not think this squad through at all?" he thought to himself.
Eventually they reached the city, but it was crawling with Galbadian soldiers.
"Why are there Galbadia soldiers here?" Koemi asked.
Swain responded, informing Koemi of disappearances in the area. Koemi questioned the cause, given the lack of any of the lights in the area. Swain, however; corrected her, informing the group that one had recently been spotted, and shared a rumor that Galbadia was looking into its utility as a weapon, echoing William's own concerns. Kyra seemed surprised by the suggestion. "Not surprising, with that power, most SeeD effectively become powerless. I consider it a very strong possibility that this is a weapon someone has deployed deliberately already." Steele said, agreeing with the rumor, as did Swain. Koemi suggested that the team investigate, which at first thought did seem to be a good start, but as Swain was quick to point out, the Galbadians complicated matters. The two discussed the other known appearance in Trabia, but given the distance, it wasn't really an option right now either.
Koemi looked to Steele and asked, “So what do we do"?
Steele hated it when people looked to him for answers, but he'd been chosen to lead whether he liked it or not, the decision had to be his. He tilted his head to one side, and put his hand on his chin, considering the possibility of a direct assault to get past the Galbadians, but if one of the lights was there, his team could lose their connections to their GFs in the middle of combat, placing them all in a dangerous situation. For now at least, he thought, if there was fighting to be done, it should probably be left to him. "Exactly how heavily guarded are we talking about? Would I be able to push alone and allow the three of you to slip through unnoticed?", he asked.
"Unlikely they've set up a perimeter around the light, even if you pushed through someone would still notice us."
He sighed. "Naturally. It would be far too simple if I could just kill something and call it a day.", he thought. Koemi the suggested that the team split up and ask around town for any information about the lights from those who might have witnessed it before the Galbadians showed up. Kyra agreed, Steele hoped this meant that whatever was going on with them was temporary, and that at some point they'd be able to work together effectively. Koemi then promptly dashed his hopes, suggesting that he pair up with Kyra, while she went with Swain. Steele hoped that getting away from Kyra for a while hadn't been her plan all along. Still, his subordinates were willing too offer their own ideas, and seemed to be okay without his direction, perhaps leading this unit wouldn't be as much of a pain as he had imagined, he smirked slightly at the thought. "Seems to be about all we can do here if we can't get near the damned thing. I'm fine with those groups if nobody else objects.", he said. Soon after, the group had split up, as suggested, and he and Kyra made their way towards the docks.
"The docks are that way if memory serves correctly. I used to spend some time here on days off, but I haven't been here for quite a while." She said. Steele felt like he should know, but his memories of this town were as much in ruins as the rest.
"You mentioned you have been out of date on things for 4 years. That'd be just about the same for me. I spent a while at the space station, and two years away, as Koemi mentioned. Care to share a bit about yourself?", she asked, seemingly trying to learn a bit more about him. He couldn't really blame her, most people were probably curious about what he had been through. He motioned his head in the direction of a bench, as he walked towards it and took a seat.
"Well, if you've been out that long, I can assume you haven't read my personnel file. None of this is classified, so it's pretty much all there. It pretty well covers the big picture, but it's a little light on detail. First and foremost, my memories don't really go back much further than 4 years. I mean, I guess I still have a few of them, but they feel... fragmented, hollow, I guess would be the best description. Like remembering a book I read a long time ago, rather than something I actually lived through. What memories I still have don't feel entirely real. The raw information is there, but there's no weight to it. No impact.", he said.
He looked further down the road they traveled, trying to see the dock in the distance. "I couldn't tell you whether the dock is in that direction, yet to the best of my knowledge, I grew up here. Most of what I know about my life back then came out of my personnel file. The one... vivid... memory I have of that life was of my last mission before the facility. It was my first command. I'd just reached Rank 9, barely qualifying to lead a low difficulty mission. And maybe it actually would have been a low difficulty mission if not for the bizarre migration habits of a certain Ruby Dragon. Most of my team were fresh recruits. Never had a chance. I managed to escape with my life, barely. Next thing I remember were a few brief moments of consciousness in the infirmary back at the Garden.", he said, reaching into one of the pockets on his vest and taking out a small stainless steel flask, and taking a small drink from it. The flask was filled with single malt Winhill whisky. He found that alcohol helped with the flashbacks, so he could retain his composure when talking about that place. he swallowed the potent liquid, and exhaled, the taste of peat and smoke on his breath.
"Well, as it turns out, I picked an unfathomably shitty time to wind up in the Garden infirmary with near fatal injuries. I don't know if this would have been something you remember or not, but the Garden Master, NORG attempted a coup of the Garden a few years back during that whole mess with Edea. Well, he'd actually been planning it quite a bit earlier than that. Underneath the Garden was a facility he was using to experiment on SeeDs to create an enhanced soldier. As you might imagine, finding willing subjects for human experiments isn't all that easy, so, like any good psychopathic asshat suffering from delusions of grandeur, he settled for unwilling subjects taken from the infirmary when their injuries were bad enough that nobody would be surprised by a declaration of their death. NORG's people faked my death and moved me into this facility where they conducted experiments and performed various surgical procedures in an attempt to create a Super-SeeD. The ultimate goal was to create soldiers that could use magic without GFs or the drawbacks that come with them. For the most part, he accomplished that objective. I don't use the junction system, but I can still draw and utilize magic like anyone who does. Arguably even better.", he said, forming a ball of fire in his hand as a demonstration.
Kyra seemed surprised. Steele expected as much. Humans weren't supposed to be able to use magic on their own. Only a sorceress was meant to have that power.
"One of the biggest drawbacks of using a GF is that it affects your memory. So it's ironic that one of the side effects of the regimen of surgical alterations, drugs, therapies, and 'special training' we endured was acute memory loss. Though, somehow I doubt NORG appreciated the irony when his army of super amnesiacs nearly took over the facility in a bout of confusion and rage. Some of us were affected more than others. As best as I can tell, I was one of the lucky ones. Couldn't remember shit, but at least my head was still on straight enough that I wasn't trying to attack everything that moved. When it was all said and done, NORG pulled the plug on the project, put us all out with some kind of sleeping gas to stop the riot, and hauled us off to cryogenic storage. And that's where we come to the 4 year gap in my memory.", he explained.
“Holy, that's quite the story. That sounds like you've truly been to hell and back. I hadn't heard much of what happened on the surface aside from the rumours. Any news we got was either hit or miss regarding political affairs. We always took any news we got with a grain of salt. That being said, we weren’t told of NORG, or his league of ‘Super-SeeDs’. It also sounds like this was completely separate from Headmaster Cid’s Garden policies. From what I heard, he wouldn’t do anything like that.”
"Well, the whole super soldier army thing didn't really pan out for him. That riot happened when he tried to unleash us, but that whole situation went to shit long before any of us actually left the facility, it wasn't until much later he actually started his coup, and he did it without us, since he never actually found a solution to the problems we had. So the facility and the experiments never really became news. Squall and his crew ended up putting NORG down and stopping his coup. During their fight, NORG tried to turn us loose as a last resort, but he couldn't make it happen quick enough. I'm the only one that actually got out. Another reason this never really became news. But yeah, this was all done in secret, Cid had no idea what NORG was up to with the facility, or that he was planning on taking over the Garden.", he explained further.
Kyra paused to look at Steele, “You did mention you grew up here though. Would there be any chance, to your knowledge, that anyone would recognise you?”
Steele thought hard, trying to remember if he had any friends here when he was young, any family, neighbors, anyone that might be able to recognize him, but nothing came to mind. He thought back to his personnel files. If he remembered correctly, he had read that his family had moved away when he was around 9. If that was the last time he'd been here, even if there were people here that knew of him, they almost certainly wouldn't recognize him now as an adult. "Hmm... Well, while I suppose it's possible I could be recognized, I'd say it's pretty unlikely. According to my files, I was only about 9 when my family moved out of this town.", he answered. "Even if anyone here knew who I was, they probably wouldn't recognize me now.", he finished.
“Interesting. That’s one less thing for us to worry about, I suppose. I would also assume you look much different now than you did then. Shall we get going? I can explain my story along the way”. Kyra seemed to be in a state of minor shock. Most people, William assumed, would be quite a bit more shaken after hearing tales of abductions and human experiments within the organization that employed them. It was either shock, or that Kyra had seen her fair share of the unbelievable herself.
"Right. Let's move.", he said.
“I’m not sure if they keep a file for me at Garden. I wasn’t a student there. I was enrolled into Galbadia Garden at a young age. Their military type training was intense, but it just wasn’t my thing. I stuck with it, and kept up with their standards as best as I could. Didn’t enjoy it, though. I was approached by the headmaster shortly after I turned 16. He’d offered a secret position to train as a White SeeD. At the time, I only hoped for a break from the militaristic lifestyle. It was an interesting time of my life. I enjoyed it, up until my last mission. We were investigating one of the forests around Esthar when we were suddenly attacked by a wild Behemoth-
"A Behemoth...", he thought, as imagery flashed through his mind.
He visualized a Behemoth before him in a small arena, surrounded by one way glass, he locked eyes with the creature, "Stare it down, show no fear, wait for it to stand up in an attempt to intimidate you", the beast stood on its hind legs to make itself appear more imposing, with a smirk, he darted forward. "Bait the attack", He slowed down just before the Behemoth took a swing at him, he rolled behind the beast and took a swing at the tip of its tail, "Sever the tip of the tail, throw off its balance, prepare for the counterattack", The Behemoth cried out in pain and anger as it turned to swipe at him with the back of its hand, but with its impaired balance, its reaction was slow and sloppy, he had already slipped in between its legs, making a shallow slash at its ankle. "Sever the Achilles tendon, render the beast immobile", the beast fell to its knee, again crying out in agony, "Mount from behind", with the beast lurched forward, it was simple enough for him to jump onto its back, and move in for the kill. "Sever the spine, no revenge Meteor if it dies in an instant", he leapt up to the beast's shoulder, and drove his blade with both hands into its neck from behind, felling the creature. He pulled his blade from the once terrifying monster's neck, and turned to see two more Behemoths waiting for him...
The muffled sound of Kyra's voice snapped him back into the present. He'd missed some of what she was saying during his flashback, but he tried to seem like he was paying attention, hoping she hadn't noticed.
-By that point, the Lunar Cry was dangerously close to starting. We didn’t have much time to act. We all had to scatter to the evacuation pods quickly. I took one of the last available, and in a panic, forgot to set the coordinates. I drifted in space until they initiated Time Compression. To the best of my knowledge, I was meant to go to where Squall and his team went, according to Ellone since I was able to connect with her before it started. That wasn’t the case. I ended up in a place called Spira, and didn’t have any way to get back.” she explained.
"A Behemoth...", he mumbled."Dangerous foes, if you're not familiar with how they move. They used to throw them in an arena with us for 'training' at the facility. More than a few candidates fell before them.", he said, taking a moment to try to process what he had managed to catch from the rest of her story. She'd gone to another world during Time Compression... That's what they meant when they said she was gone for the past two years. Just what kind of magic was Time Compression if it could connect two different worlds that way? He'd been researching it ever since he came out of the facility, but as of yet, he still couldn't fully understand it.
"You said this place was called Spira?", he asked. Kyra nodded in reply. "I can't say I've heard of it... but it can be reached through Time Compression? That... has some interesting implications.", he said without elaborating further. Yet it was clear that this interested him more than it would the average person, though the reasons why weren't clear to anyone else.
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