Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Squall rested for a few hours, before waking into the evening. He packed his tent, and continued on his way. His journey south was mostly uneventful, though he did encounter a few animated trees. They weren't particularly interesting, or threatening, just a bit unusual. The journey ended at the dead of night, when he finally saw what he was looking for. A massive fortress isolated atop a peninsula, one narrow road leading to the only way in. Considering his situation, Squall cast a Scan spell as he hid behind a boulder along the road, to get a closer look at the fortress.

"The only way in is through a drawbridge," he observed, trying to come up with a plan. "So forcing my way through isn't an option." Squall considered his options and tried to formulate a plan, but his mind drew blank. "Maybe this was a bad idea," he thought, "I shouldn't get involved. It's not my mis-," just then, he heard a wagon being pulled in behind. Squall peaked around behind the boulder to get a better look at it. It appeared to be a supply wagon, the driver not looking to be armed. This was his opportunity. Squall walked out from behind the boulder to stand in the wagon's path, to stop it. The driver stopped, "Hey, what's the problem?" he exclaimed. "I'm commandeering your wagon for SeeD purposes," Squall proclaimed.

"Seeds? No, sir, you're mistaken. All I've got is meat and bread, for the prison." The confused driver informed.

"I said, 'I'm commandeering your wagon.' That means 'get off!'" Squall said, with a sharper tone.

"Alright! Alright! I'm going!" The man dismounted, "but tell your boss I'll need compensation for this. Wagon's aren't cheap, you know!"

"Whatever," Squall said dismissively as he mounted the wagon and continued down the road. The driver walked back the way he came, totally unaware that he had just been robbed. He proceeded to pull the wagon up to the massive drawbridge. One of the guards blew into his whistle, with the most horrible shrill whistling imaginable. "This is the meat that Fruegel ordered?" one guard asked whilst another went around back to check the supply. "Yes, sir," Squall answered as formally as he could. Squall sat there in awkward silence with the guard, as the other went through his mandatory inspection. The guard around back signalled the all clear to the guard in front, who then blew his whistle and signaled to the gate-keeper to lower the drawbridge. "You're good to go," the guard told Squall, "I assume you know the way?" Squall considered asking for directions, but decided against it, preferring to avoid further awkward conversation with the guard. He instead nodded politely, and drove the wagon inside.

Looking around, Squall attempted his best to get his bearings in the prison. The architecture was off-putting, with several stone bridges and staircases illogically placed. There were immense gaps between many of the bridges, many of which seemed to go on forever, with no bottom. Eventually, Squall came across a doorway large enough for the wagon to enter, with a rag-sign hanging above that said "Supply Room," as good a place as any for him to abandon the wagon and continue on-foot. A guard greeted him as he parked. "Everything seems in order," he said, as Squall dismounted. "Wait here, and I'll get your payment. Don't move from this room, you understand?" The guard repeated himself in a threatening manner. "Yeah yeah," Squall said in his dismissive tone. Just as the guard turned around to retrieve the gold, Squall finally broke his act. "Hey," Squall said to the guard, the guard turned a bit to see what he wanted. "Stop" Squall said, casting a spell on the guard to freeze him in time stasis for a few moments. Squall proceeded to draw his gunblade, and used the opportunity to whack the guard in the back of the head with the back-end of his blade. The unsuspecting guard immediately fell over and lost consciousness once he regained time. "It's kinda weird that magic is so effective on these guys," Squall thought to himself, "Could this be a world without magic?"

Squall navigated the labyrinthine prison, doing his best not to get lost in the ridiculous twist and turns of the arbitrary architecture. Guards were sparsely spread out amongst the area, but they seemed mostly focused at the balconies, where one could get a better idea of where one was in the prison. Squall was careful not to be seen, keeping in mind his SeeD training, which, amongst many other things, taught him to learn about his enemy, before jumping into any large scale battle. He sneaked up onto one of the balconies to get a better vantage, and try to plan his next move. He observed several shoddily built elevators connecting each of the balconies, and a little further up, he saw two towers, with barred windows all along them. "That's probably where they're keeping the prisoners," he thought. As he sneaked his way toward the towers, he couldn't help but feel as though he were being watched. He slowed his pace to try and spot his onlooker, but to no success. Whoever it was was good at keeping undetected. "If it were a guard, they'd be swarming me by now," Squall silently reassured himself, "better to stay focused on the mission."

As Squall made his way towards the prison, he passed by the guard's dining hall. He overheard one of the guards chatting amongst his comrades, "I was thinking about swinging by the West tower, and giving that new girl a hard time, hehe," he giggled, clearly pissed drunk. "Shana's in the West tower," Squall noted to himself, quickly getting away from the hive of drunk and disorderly guardsmen. He rode one of the rickety old elevators, and finally arrived at the West tower. Unfortunately for him, the door was locked. He tried kicking it a few times, but it wouldn't budge. Just as he was readying to pull out his gunblade and start chopping down the door, a guard whistled that horrible shrill whistle from behind. Squall flinched. "You there!" the guard shouted as he rushed forward, wielding some sort of large two-handed mace. Squall turned around, nonchalantly, and drew his weapon. "Do you have the key?" he asked the guard who was threatening his life. "I'll have your head!" the guard declared as he swung his mace downward. Squall quickly raised his blade over-head, and parried the guard's attack. "That's not a cutting weapon. You'd have to take the rest of my body, too," Squall quipped as he returned the attack, and was also parried. "You b*****d!" the guard screamed as he rushed forward for a berserk attack. He thrust his mace towards Squall's head, but Squall ducked under it, and cut the guard's legs. The guard's forward momentum continued, he himself confused, disoriented, and injured from Squall's attack, until he smashed through the door. The deep gash in his shins from Squall's strike left him unable to get up and keep fighting, and he winged in pain. "Aren't you going to kill me?" he said to Squall, as he walked past him and into the tower. "Not if you stay quiet," the young mercenary responded. "Hah... if you don't kill me, Fruegel will... He's ruthless... Not like you... You don't stand a chance of getting out of here..." the guard rambled on. "Shut up," Squall retorted, sick of his babbling, and then proceeded to cast a sleep spell on the guard.

As Squall investigated each cell, he noticed there weren't any guards around on each floor. When he worked his way higher and higher through the tower, however, he began to hear the sound of a battle going on near the top. Squall continued working his way higher, still yet to see Shana in any of these cells, until, to his surprise, a man fell down from one of the top floors of the tower, into the bottomless abyss down bellow. Squall decided at this point that ignoring the chaos above would serve him no good, so he took the shabby elevator and made his way to the second floor from the top. A few ragged soldier-types were fighting with rusty swords against the guards. They were clearly tired and injured from a battle prior, and were unable to keep the guards attacks at bay. The elevator finally settled a ways down the hall for Squall to dismount, but before he could lend any assistance, a blonde haired man, lightly armored, and carrying a spear charged into the fray. He ran his spear clean through one of the guards, and with great power, dislodged his spear to ready for his next attack before the other guard even realized what had happened. "Rrragh! Harpoon!" the man shouted as he thrust his spear forward into the guard, then proceeding to do a powerful twirling slash, sending the guard spiraling back, dead in a single attack. Squall was about to approach the man, but just then, two guards attempted to attack him from behind. Squall rolled out of the way, and then doubled back, away from the guards. Unexpectedly, his back bumped into the man with the spear, who had also been backing away from a couple of guards. The two, surprised at the sudden contact, turned around and clashed weapons for a moment, before coming to their senses, and teaming up together to take on their foe. The two attacked in sequence, switching which group after each attack. One guard took on the spear-man head on, their weapons clashing repeatedly, and his partner attempted to catch the spear-man off-guard, but Squall quickly jumped in to parry the attacker, as the spear-man swiftly ended his target with a stab through the throat. Just as one of the guards behind them attempted to attack Squall from behind as he was preoccupied, the spear-man quickly dislodged his weapon, and performed a backwards jab into the guard's stomach with the blunt of his spear, knocking the wind out of him. Just as that was happening, Squall used his attacker's strength against him by sliding his blade around the back of the guard's mace. The guard, off-balance, had no way to defend from Squall's slash through the chest, which sent him flying backward, with a timely pull of the trigger. The spearman proceeded to turn around, and impale the winded guard through his head, as Squall jumped back and finished the last guard with a powerful slice, shattering his mace, and killing him in a heartbeat.

After the two of them basked in the after-glow of their victory, the spearman decided he'd be the one to break the ice. "You fought incredibly!" he complimented. Squall wasn't really good at accepting compliments, so he just shrugged, and avoided eye-contact. "Please, let me introduce myself. I am Lavitz Slambert, a knight of Basil," he said, hand outstretched for greeting. "Squall Leonhart. I'm with SeeD," Squall introduced himself, not shaking Lavitz's hand. "Well, Dart, what brought you-," Squall interrupted him, "Squall. My name is Squall," he repeated. "Erhm," Lavitz looked a bit confused, "I don't really hear the difference. I'm sorry, I've never been good with accents. You don't mind if I continue to call you 'Dart,' do you?" Lavitz asked, seeming a bit saddened that he had ruined his first impression with his new ally. "Can't hear the difference? How does 'Squall' sound anything like 'Dart'?!" he thought to himself, but aloud he merely said "Whatever."

"So, as I was going to ask before, what brought you here, to Hellena? Are you an escaping prisoner as well?" Lavitz inquired. "No. I came here of my own will. I'm here to find a girl named 'Shana,'" Squall informed his new companion. "Is this 'Shana' your sweetheart?" Lavitz continued, getting a bit nosey. "None of your business," Squall said dismissively. "Sorry. Touchy topic, I take it?" Lavitz kept on. "None of your business," Squall repeated more sternly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Listen, I heard they recently brought in a girl, at the top floor, right above. That's probably her." Lavitz said, trying to get back on Squall's good side. "Alright," Squall said, as they walked toward the elevator to the next floor.

The two looked around the top floor. Most of the cells were empty. Eventually, Lavitz shouted out to Squall "Hey, I think I found her!" The small, brown-haired girl approached the cell doors to see who was talking. "Are you Miss Shana?" Lavitz asked her, "Y-yes. How do you know who I-" she stopped talking as she saw Squall approach. "I-is that you Dart?" she asked, a bit reserved, yet there was restrained joy in her voice. "Stand back," Squall said, as he readied his gunblade to break the lock. She complied, and just then, Squall jammed his gunblade between the lock and the door-frame, and pulled the trigger to shatter the lock. Before he could even regain his composure, Shana jumped on him to give him a big hug. "Dart! I'm so glad you're here!" Squall was wholly uncomfortable with the situation, as Lavitz looked on with a big grin, apparently satisfied that his initial assumption appeared true. Squall pushed her back, gently. "This isn't the time, we need to get out of here," Squall said, trying not to get distracted from his objective. "Stay behind me and Lavitz. We'll take care of the fighting," Squall told her. "No," she objected, "I can fight, too!" she said, grabbing a flimsy bow, and a quiver of arrows off the wall. Squall sighed, "Whatever," he said, as he led the group back out the tower.

Squall was careful to retrace his steps through the prison. The horrible, poorly designed prison was an easy place to get lost in, and Squall definitely didn't want all his time and effort from this point to be wasted. He didn't care too much, this time, about being sneaky, as the trio were more than enough to deal with any guards that got in their way. Shana, despite Squall's initial impression of her, was quite a good shot, despite the poor quality of her weapon. Just as they were approaching the drawbridge, an obese man, decked in gold armor, with a silly horned helmet, and a big wooden club stood in their way. "Where do you think you're going with my prisoners?" the obese man said with a breathy voice. "Your prisoners?" Squall asked. "Yeah, my prisoners. I'm the warden here. Warden Fru-"

"Fruegel," Squall cut in. "Don't interrupt me!" Fruegel shouted in a rage. "Yes, I am Warden Fruegel, and you are stealing my prisoners!" He repeated himself, "Especially that girl! I'm under specific orders from Emperor Doel to hold onto her!"

"Enough talk!" Lavitz interjected, readying his spear for a fight. Squall and Shana followed suit. "Hehe, feisty, eh? Most people cower in fear at just the sound of my name!" Fruegel taunted. "Thunder," Squall cast a lightning spell, as he bored of Fruegel's inane jabber. The lightning struck Fruegel hard, strenghtened by the conductivity of Fruegel's garrish golden armor. "Ow! Stop with your tricks!" Fruegel shouted, as he slammed his club downward, the shockwave alone sending Squall back. Lavitz used the opportunity to skid around to Fruegel's side and charge forward, "Rragh! Harpoon!" he shouted as he struck with that signature technique from before. "Agh! Stop that!" Fruegel said in pain, his golden armor clearly not very strong. Shana shot an arrow into his massive belly as he was distracted attacking Lavitz in retaliation. "Rgh, this isn't fair, 3 against 1!" he then whistled a call "Rodriguez! Guftas!" Arriving at his side were a horrible four legged beast with a horned Mohawk, and a decorated bird-monster. "Heheheh," the heafty man chuckled, "Get rid of these guys!" The bird made a beeline for Squall, whereas the beast attempted to maul Lavitz. As Squall and Lavitz were preoccupied, Shana continued to pelt Fruegel with arrows. The beast bit toward Lavitz, but he blocked it with his spear, unfortunately, the beast grabbed onto his spear, and it was a struggle for superiority. Squall proceeded to swat at the bird-creature as it tried to attack. "Ugh, I can't deal with these flying creatures. If only Kineas were here," Squall thought to himself, "Kineas, or R-..." the missing memory caused him to hesitate, which the bird took full advantage of, and tackled him to the ground. The bird proceeded to peck at his face, as he held his arms up as best he could to defend himself. "Dart!" Shana shouted when she saw what was happening, and let loose an arrow, which landed squarely on the bird's back. It squawked in pain, as Shana had apparently hit a very vital part of its spine, and its legs went limp. "Rodriguez!" Fruegel shouted in anger, as he lifted a huge chunk out of the ground and tossed it at Shana. It barely missed her, but the near death experience sent her into shock. She fell to her knees, her inexperience in battle finally getting to her. Squall grabbed his gunblade, and decapitated the bird while he had the chance, and made a charge towards Fruegel. "No!" Fuegel swept his club across the ground, hitting Squall directly, and sending him flying into a wall. Meanwhile, Lavitz strength had finally won out over the beast, as he yanked his spear free, breaking some of the beasts fangs with the force, and quickly impaling it through the chin, finishing it with a single, well-timed counter attack. "No! Not Guftas, too!" Fruegel screamed in his grief. Squall struggled to stand up, the single attack he recieved from Fruegel had left him beaten and bloodied. However, it is when Squall is on the brink of death that his true power emerges! He held his gunblade high, "Limit Break," he declared as he proceeded to run forward with lightning speed. "Renzokuken!" he shouted aloud as he unleashed a flurry of slashes on Fruegel, each one with precise timing of the trigger to guarantee maximum damage. Just when his flurry ended, he jumped back "It's over," Squall stated as he readied his blade for one final attack. "Rough Divide!" Squall said as he flew forward and sliced cleanly through Warden Fruegel. Squall collapsed to his knee as Fruegel fell into two. Shana rushed to his side. "Dart! Are you okay?!" she cried. "Ugh, I'll be fine..." Squall looked around to find that Lavitz was curiously missing. "Where... did Lavitz go?"

"Uhm," Shana looked around, but couldn't find him either. Suddenly, Lavitz returned, riding a horse, and dragging another horse along with him. "Hurry up, you two! We need to leave!" They nodded. Shana helped Squall up onto the horse, while she drove, and the three rode out, across the drawbridge, and escaping into the horizon. It was finally sunrise. Squall's first sunrise since arriving in this world.