The drone of the engine drowned out all of Helen Martinez’s thoughts. Finally, she gave up on trying and allowed herself to drift off. As she slept, her mind became absorbed in dreams of Zell, whom she had been taken with ever since she had seen him. 

“Excuse me, miss?” asked a meek, young boy as he lightly tapped the sleeping girl on the shoulder.

“Hmm?” Helen mumbled drowsily as she blinked away her dreams and yawned.

“I’m sorry to wake you, miss, but we’ve landed,” explained the apologetic boy. As Helen nodded and stood up, she recognized the messenger as a construction worker named Jaimen who had at first seemed too young to be on such an important mission, but after watching him interact with the older members of the team, Helen had understood why Cid had chosen the young boy. Jaimen, while lacking in experience, was smart, determined, and possessed an almost eerie resemblance to Rinoa Leonhart.

“Are you coming?” Jaimen called back at the stock-still girl from the airship’s exit.

Helen shook away her thoughts and walked towards the door. Jaimen extended his hand with a peculiar smile to help Helen down the steps. She hesitated for a moment, but then smiled back and accepted the help. 

“Helen!” Zell called from the beach as he watched her descend down the steps of the plane. He began to jog towards her, grimacing at the pain in his side but not caring to stop.

Helen let go of Jaimen’s hand and gasped at the sight before her. Jaimen laughed and looked at her, “Yup, Zell looks pretty good from where I’m standing, too.”

Helen joined in the laughter and started at a jog herself toward the zigzagging and stumbling boy. Time seemed to freeze, the background faded away, and no sound could be heard except the racing beat of her heart as she reached Zell and fell into his arms.

“Hey,” Zell wrapped his arms even tighter around her and kissed her gently on the forehead, “I missed you.”

Helen loosened her grip and back away. “Please don’t do that again. I was so worried.”

Zell sighed as he reached out his hand to brush the wind blown hair out of his girl’s face, “I’m sorry and I swear to you it’ll never happen again. After the hell I’ve been through, you couldn’t PAY me to spend another hour in the some room as Seifer…”

Helen noticed the shake in Zell’s voice as he mentioned that name. It wasn’t a kind of anger or annoyance, but sadness as if Zell really wished being stuck with Seifer would be a possibility in the future…..if only Seifer survived.

“Hey guys,” Jaimen came walking up behind Helen, “What’s with the long faces?”

“Jay! Man, what are you doing here?” Zell inquired, astonished to be seeing his long time friend in the flesh.

Jay grinned as he extended his hand for a seemingly “secret” handshake. “Been sent to check on the wreck, but it’s all good ‘cause I brought along some very nice stuff….”

Zell put his arm around Helen’s shoulder and looked quizzically at Jay, “Stuff, eh?”

“Yup,” Jaimen nodded, “This stuff is very hush-hush.”

Zell began to walk with Helen back towards the plane and the crew, “If you’re not going to tell us, you can just go home, Jaimen.”

“Hey! Wait up!” Jay called as he ran to his leaving friends, “I’ll tell you. Geez, can’t you take a joke anymore Zell?”

Helen stifled a laugh. “I saw the big box of yours they loaded onto the plane. It looked a little…unusual, although I doubt it has the answer to all our problems locked away in it.”

“Ahh, but you’re wrong.” Jay pronounced proudly. “I brought a ton of equipment, especially one idea derived from our childhood together Zell.”

“Really?” Zell asked with a bit of curiosity. “What is it?”

“Well, my friends, it is of course…. TOP SECRET!” Jay ducked Zell’s playful swing and ran off laughing.

“He’s so weird,” Zell commented as they watched Jaimen reach the plane only to be yelled at by Quistis for not helping with the unloading.

Helen smiled and kissed Zell on the cheek, “Sound’s like someone else I know.”

“Headmaster Squall, we’re glad to have you here.” 

“..Thanks…” Squall replied with a bit of confusion. “Who are you?”

“I’m Krupt Quill, lead construction advisor,” explained the man confidently. “Quistis Trepe has asked me to tell you about the situation as we are on our way to the area in question.”

Squall ran his hand through his hair, “This ‘situation’ is so important that nobody from SeeD could come and fill me in themselves?”

The man hesitated, “Well, umm….I…”

“I’m here, ya know,” Raijin piped in. “They sent me.”

Squall sighed as he looked around him at the small group of four men. It was hardly the welcoming he was expecting. After all, Zell was supposedly safe. Why wasn’t everyone here to be taken back to Balamb Garden? 

“It was nice of you to come and greet us Raijin,” Rinoa smiled warmly as she took Squall by the arm. “Why don’t you lead the way? We’re both anxious to see everyone.”

“Jus’ follow me, ya know,” Raijin told them proudly before he turned and began to march into the forest.

“Alright, Quill,” Squall began to walk behind Raijin, “Tell me everything you know.”

Seifer stared in every direction but only saw the same exact thing: rock. Rock floor, rock ceiling, rock walls. It made him sick. The only thing in the entire room worth looking at was Ellone. She looked so peaceful and pretty lying on the floor sleeping. He wished he had a pillow to make the hard ground more comfortable for her, but he didn’t. Instead he crouched down over her and lightly brushed the hair from her face, tucking it behind her delicate ear.

“Don’t worry,” Seifer whispered as he took off his gray overcoat and laid it over the sleeping girl, “I’ll get us out of this.”

Seifer sighed and stroked Ellone’s hair as he listened to her even breathing that seemed to convince him that everything would turn out for the best. 

Bang!

Out of nowhere, a loud boom echoed through the small side cavern. Ellone shot up in terror and Seifer, not being able to move out of the way quickly enough because of his lost balance, knocked his head with the recently awoken girl’s.

“I, I,…..” Seifer stuttered and blushed as he pushed himself up off of the ground while rubbing his forehead. “Sorry..”

Ellone just reached out her hand in order to pull herself up using Seifer as a sort of brace. “I’m alright, just another bump. But what was that noise?”

“I think it came from the other side of this wall,” Seifer reasoned as he walked over to the far side of the room. “Maybe some more of the ceiling collapsed…..”

Bang!

The entire ground shook again and Ellone stumbled backward.

“Whoa,” Seifer exclaimed as he swooped Elle into his arms and leaned up against a wall to brace them from the impact. “What the hell is going on out there?”

“That’s what I’d like to know…” Ellone responded as she peered over her companion’s shoulder at the trembling walls. She turned her gaze up ward as dust and small pebbles began to fall. A seemingly continuous pattern of thumps and pangs started in an almost predictable manner. It was as if a machine of some sort was….

Seifer coughed, breaking into Elle’s train of thought. He tried unsuccessfully to wave the dust particles away from his face but only stirred up more. Ellone smiled at the sight before her. Seifer was swatting the air in front of his face as if he saw some invisible bugs. She realized that she just loved spending time with him, even if that meant being trapped in a small, dank, and dusty cavern. Elle saw how good he really was, how kind, how caring, how sweet……….

“Hello? Elle? Are you listening to me?” Seifer asked.

Immediately, she was snapped back into the present and her face turned a light pink in embarrassment. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

Seifer grinned, “The question is what were YOU thinking about?”

Ellone raised one eyebrow playfully, “Hmmm, that’s for me to know and you never, ever find out….”

Seifer grinned even more widely and unexpectantly lunged forward, grabbing her around the waist. He pulled her to the floor and began to tickle her endlessly. “Tell me.”

“Nev….ver..” Ellone managed to squeak out between gasps and laughs. “Sto….op….Sei….fe…er….”

“Okay,” Seifer agreed as he laid down beside Elle, panting for breath. “Let’s both just rest a minute….we can pretend to be able to see the stars…”

Their deep breaths fell in place with the repeating pangs echoing through the little cavern as they both stared up on their backs at the stone and dirt ceiling.

“It doesn’t seem like its going to stop and time soon….” Ellone commented quietly as she listened enviously to the sound coming from the outside.

“Nope,” Seifer replied as he placed his arm around Elle and drew her closer to him in hopes of comforting her. “So stop worrying, alright?”

“Oh, I’m not worried,” Ellone explained as she rolled over on her stomach and leaned her chin on Seifer’s chest so they could talk face to face. “After all, I’ve got this friend, the best of friends, who’ll take care of me.”

“Yeah,” Seifer responded as he reached up his hand to gently sweep the hair out of Ellone’s eyes, which were a deep brown. As Seifer looked into them, he got lost and realized that he had never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life. “But Squall’s not here so I guess I’ll just have to do.”

Ellone sighed and placed her head down on his chest as a single tear streaked down her face. “If I had one wish, I’d wish that we would find out it’s him out there making all that noise….”

Seifer wrapped his arms tightly around her and closed his eyes. 

So would I………if anyone could help us, save us, it’s got to be you, Squall, so hurry…………please hurry……

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