The wind howled as dark clouds
settled over the small town of Balamb. As suddenly as the clouds had appeared,
raindrops began to pelt down from the sky and the air grew heavy. A man
wearing a long overcoat with a dark gray hat pulled his collar up and snuggled
his face into it in order to maintain warm and protected from the newly
hatched storm. He rushed across Mayhill Street and jogged along the sidewalk,
stopping for a moment at every door to peer at what the house number was.
“This is seventy-seven,”
the man said, not talking to anyone in particular but merely stating it
out loud to himself.
As soon as the words had
left his lips, the man felt embarrassed. True, he was an old man, but still
he had never expected to be talking to himself. He thought of this action
as a kind of admission of his age. He looked around to see if anyone had
over heard his ramblings, but to his astonishment, the rain was pouring
down so hard such a fast speed that he could barely see two feet in front
of himself. He shrugged off his uncertainties about himself and continued
on with his task. The gentleman was soaked to the bone by the time he had
reached house number eighty-five, although it was only a few houses away
from seventy-seven, where he had been only a moderately wet from the storm.
He walked to the door of his destination and came as close to it as he
possibly could in order to get the complete use out of the small overhang.
He took off his sopping wet hat and pounded at the large wooden door. The
man waited a minute or two, but no one answered. He sighed and raised his
hand up, ready to pound on it again when the door was abruptly pulled open.
“Oh, hello Cid,” Squall said
in a surprised tone as he opened the door to his new home. “You must be
soaking wet!”
Squall gestured for Cid to
enter the little house, shutting the door tightly behind them.
Squall promptly took his
unexpected guest’s hat along with his coat. Then, Cid was led down a narrow
hallway and into a cozy living room. Squall seated himself on the couch
and motioned for his visitor to do the same.
“So, what brings you here?
Trouble at Balamb Garden? Natural disasters?” Squall smiled. “Or is the
end of the world coming?”
“Very funny,” Cid mumbled.
This was no time for jokes or follies. Not a minute more could be wasted
on small talk, although he was very glad that Squall was in such a pleasant
mood.
“Now,” Cid took on a more
serious tone to his voice, “I know that you have taken a leave of absence
. . . .”
“Exactly.” Squall interrupted
cheerfully, “So what terrible thing are you here to inform me about?”
Squall could not keep the
smile off his face. He was in too good a mood. After all, he had taken
off from his position as Headmaster at Balamb Garden (leaving Cid in charge)
because of a broken leg. This was practically healed, but he wasn’t running
to go back to work just yet. He wanted to spend a little more time with
his wife, Rinoa. They had just been married last year and his injury provided
the perfect excuse for him to stay home and be with her more.
Cid cleared his throat and
stared seriously into Squall’s eyes. Squall got the message and sat up
straight to show that Cid had his full attention.
“As I was saying,” Cid began,
“you know about the disease that has plagued Trabia Garden, right?”
Squall simply nodded, not
trusting his voice to be able to keep up the act of seriousness. He was
barely able to stop himself from bursting out with uncontrollable laughter
as it was, with his mouth CLOSED!
“Well, I had requested that
Fuujin go to Trabia to help those doctors get organized,” Cid stopped and
smiled to himself.
Cid knew that Fuujin would
have everyone so nervous and scared, they would hardly stop working with
her around.
“And I sent out a hand full
of SeeDs to get the ingredients,” Cid hesitated, “including Zell . . .
.”
Squall flinched as the smile
disappeared from his face. What did Zell have to do with this? His heart
sank and his good mood diminished into nothing as the possibilities of
all the horrible things that might have happened to his friend flashed
before his eyes.
Cid, giving Squall a little
time to prepare for the bad news about his best friend Zell, waited patiently
until Squall raised his pale worry-stricken face to his own before continuing
with the dilemma.
“Zell,” Cid took a deep breath,
“was sent to Kempi Island with the assignment to bring back a supply of
the Phlemnesium Herb.He had reported
in late, as usual, and he was issued a rowboat because it was the only
vehicle in working condition that he would be able to use to get to a island.”
“Kempi Island?” Squall questioned.
“Isn’t that more than ten hours from Balamb by boat?”
Cid nodded his head.
“Around seven hours after
Zell’s departure, a doctor named Wesley Stone came up with a very promising
mixture. One of its main ingredients is the herb that Zell went in search
of and the lab has barely any of it left. They can’t really see if the
medicine has any major drawbacks yet and can’t spare any of their reserves
for testing. We tried to contact Zell via radio in order to ask him to
locate the Plemnesium Herb on Kempi Island and send us its where-a bouts.
There was no answer. An hour and a half later, our computer said that his
radio was unreachable. Our communication with him was cut off.”
Cid stopped and looked up
at Squall whose face was contorted with disbelief and confusion.
“Wha . . . what,” Squall
stuttered in practically a whisper, “what does that mean?”
Cid sighed.
“We don’t know exactly, but
it certainly DOESN’T mean that Zell, well, that he . . . . ,” Cid’s voice
droned out, but Squall caught his drift.
“He’s not.” Squall suddenly
declared as he stood up. “I’ll find him, . . . . I have to find him.”
Cid rose to his feet and
put his hand on Squall’s shoulder. He had never seen Squall so worked up
before, and you could never tell what was going on in that head of his.
“Calm down,” Cid said softly,
trying to comfort the young man. “We’re working on finding him. I’ve already
sent for Selphie to fly from Trabia back to Balamb. She’ll lead the search
party.”
“I can lead the . . . . ,”
Squall started but Cid quickly raised his hand to silence him.
“Selphie can do it, and besides,
SeeD needs YOU to be at the Garden.”
Squall reluctantly shook
his head in agreement. He knew that he would have to remain at Balamb Garden
instead of leading the mission to find Zell.
“Your right,” Squall stubbornly
admitted. “What’s the plan?”
“I’ll explain it all when
we get to the Garden,” Cid told his young companion as he put on his slightly
damp hat and coat.
Squall began to slip on his
coat but froze abruptly.
“You start without me,” he
said hesitantly. “I have to talk to Rinoa before I leave. She went out
to meet my sister, Ellone, at the train station and should be back soon.
Plus, I’ve got to get a few things together first.”
Without another word, Cid
nodded and stepped out into the rain. He rain down the street as Squall
watched from the doorway.
“Oh god,” Squall muttered to himself as he slowly closed the door.
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