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Squall, Lavitz, and Shana had finally arrived in the bustling Capital city of Bale. Squall observed Lavitz' big goofy grin, ecstatic that he had finally come back to his home town. Lavitz led the way through the town, as Squall and Shana lagged behind, taking in their surroundings. The whole city was paved with stone streets, and a water-way was visible bellow at the edge of most roads. As they were walking, someone bumped into Squall hard enough to make him stumble off his feet. Squall looked back to see who it was. Behind him was an elderly man in a black cloak, stumbled over and resting on his knee. Squall stood back up, and patted himself off. "Are you all right?" Squall asked as he helped the man back up. "Yes, thank you good sir," the man responded, as Squall got a better look at his face. He appeared to be between 70 to 80 years old, with long platinum hair frayed and flowing down his neck, and wearing a metal half-mask covering the left side of his face, presumably to cover up some terrible burn. "Did you drop this?" the man asked, as he handed Squall the shiny red stone from before. "Oh, I guess so," Squall acknowledged, barely recognizing the object. "Take care of that," the man said with a strange smile, "it looks important," he then walked away, disappearing into the crowds of the city.

"Dart!" Lavitz shouted out to Squall, having wandered off with Shana a fair distance without Squall noticing. Squall approached nonchalantly, pocketing the stone. "Did you get lost?" Lavitz asked, apparently not having noticed the old man Squall had bumped into. "No, just got a little distracted," Squall said, trying to dispel any would-be rumors of himself having a bad sense of direction. "Right, so let us report back to Indels Castle. That would be our first priority," Lavitz said, continuing to led the group into the city. The whole town was bustling with activity, but they hadn't the time to see any of it, currently, as they made a bee-line towards Indels Castle. Crossing the wide bridge that connected the castle to the city, the trio approached the gate. The guards immediately recognized Lavitz, and allowed the group entrance. Inside, Indels Castle seemed to be a labyrinth made up of staircases and cramped rooms. Squall was thoroughly unimpressed with the structure of the building, however, he's not usually one to be impressed by that kind of thing.

They at last arrived at the top floor of the castle, into the throne room. The throne room was just as cramped as any other room in the castle, though it was more aesthetically pleasing with its ornate decorum. Inside the throne room were 3 men, a younger man with dirty blonde hair tied loosely into a pony-tail, wearing a fancy green cape, and carrying a scepter, presumably, he was the King. Next to him was a middle aged man, wearing a blue and beige robe, and a matching blue hat that sagged unimpressively over his brow. He was probably an advisor of some sort. Lastly, hanging about in the back of the room, as if trying not to be noticed was an elderly man with platinum hair, wearing a black cloak that covered most of his body, and a metal half-mask. Squall immediately recognized the man from their encounter earlier. The man's presence was quite off-putting to Squall.

Lavitz bowed down before the King, Squall and Shana quickly following his lead. "King Albert, I, Lavitz Slambert, am reporting back from my mission!" Lavitz declared, unusually formally. "Ah! Lavitz! You've returned!" The King said with a surprising amount of glee. "I was so worried when I heard that your unit had been captured!"

"The Sandorans held us prisoner in Hellena Prison. I managed to escape with the help of Dart and Shana," Lavitz gestured towards Squall and Shana, indicating that they were in fact the ones who helped him escape. "Unfortunately, the rest of my unit lost their lives in the escape attempt. I accept full responsibility for their deaths," Lavitz said, getting a little teary eyed at the memory of his lost comrades. The King didn't even seem upset, he was clearly just relieved to see Lavitz again. "Don't worry about it too much, Lavitz. I know you did all you could to save them. I'm just glad you returned safely."

"And you!" Albert said towards Squall, "You deserve some reward for rescuing my Knight Captain. Name anything you want, and I will see to it that you receive it!" Albert claimed, enthusiastically. Squall stood up, and considered how he would ask his question. In order to avoid alerting Lavitz and Shana, he asked his question in a round-about way. "Can you tell me anything about people another world?" he asked. "Another world?" Albert inquired. "Yeah. More specifically, people from another world coming to this world."

"I'm not too familiar with any legends of that sort. Minister Noish, could you help?" Albert asked of the man standing next to him. "Aye, I know of one. Shortly after the Dragon Campaign, a man with no name appeared here in this continent of Serdio. A kind-hearted man, wielding a weapon not of this world. When the village was under siege by a gang of ravenous Gigantoes, he used his incredible other-worldly weapons to fend them off. The Gigantoes couldn't even get close, as his weapon pierced their armor from afar." Squall was uninterested in the daring feats of the so-called hero, so he asked a more "to the point" question. "Do you know how he arrived here, or if he managed to go back to his home?"

"There are many variations on the tale. Some say he rose up from the sea, others say he descended from the heavens. Unfortunately, we do not have good records of the event, save for legends passed by word of mouth." Minister Noish said with a sympathetic tone.

"Descended from the heavens?" Squall thought to himself. "When I arrived here, I fell out from the sky. Whoever this guy was might've come the same way. Shortly after the..."

"Could you tell me about the Dragon Campaign? I'm not familiar with that."

"Oh yes," Minister Noish said with a bit more enthusiasm. Clearly, this was a topic he enjoyed discussing, for whatever reason. "The Dragon Campaign was a long and bloody war between the Humans and the Winglies."

"Winglies?" Squall asked in mild disbelief.

"The Winglies were winged folk who lorded over Humanity. Humans were their slaves, to be subjugated by the might of the Winglies. The Dragon Campaign changed all of that. Humans fought back against the Winglies, with the assistance of Dragons!"

"Humans fought along-side the Dragons?" Shana interjected, the subject beginning to pique her interest. "Indeed, Dragons live to serve humans!" Minister Noish responded. "Does this idiot even notice the irony in that?" Squall quietly stated under his breath. "Using the awesome might of the Dragons, the humans vanquished their Wingly overlords!"

"How long ago did all this happen?" Squall asked.

"Oh, about eleven-thousand years ago, I suppose." Minister Noish stated. "Eleven-thousand years?!" Squall thought, "Does that mean that man from the legend wasn't even from my world?"

"Was the information to your satisfaction?" Minister Noish asked. "Y-yeah. You were a great help. Thanks." Squall said, leaning up against a column to try and relax his troubled mind. "Now, Lavitz," Albert began with a solemn look in his eyes, "I hate to do this to you after you've just come back, but we're barely holding the line at Hoax. If it's not too much trouble, could you and your new friends offer reinforcements?" Albert asked in earnest. "Of course Sire. I'll leave tomorrow afternoon." Lavitz saluted whilst reassuring his King. Lavitz then turned back towards Squall. "Dart, can I count on you to have my back?" Squall shrugged, "Sure, whatever."

"Excellent!" Lavitz said with great enthusiasm. "I-I'm coming too!" Shana let out. "No, you're not," Squall stated flatly. "But Dart, I don't want to leave you ever again!" she spoke, bluntly. "You'll get in the way," Squall said, completely indifferent towards her plea.

"No, Dart! I can fight, too!"

"No, you can't."

"I can! I'll protect you!"

"What a pain," Squall thought, the exchange giving him a headache. "Fine, whatever."

Albert and Noish stood in awkward silence. The elderly man in the black cloak had apparently left at some point when Squall had yet to take notice. "So, ehrm..." Albert spoke uncomfortably, "I'm glad that's settled... hah... hah..." he forced laughter to try and lighten the mood. Squall left the room making his way out of the castle, with Lavitz and Shana chasing behind. "Wait, Dart! Where are you going?" Lavitz called out. Squall stopped and turned around. "I'm going to find an Inn to sleep for the night," Squall stated plainly. "You don't have to do that!" Lavitz said with a big goofy smile, "You should stay the night at my house! I'll introduce the two of you to my mother!"

While Squall was a bit thrown off by the idea of meeting Lavitz's mother, he couldn't argue with getting a free room to sleep in, so he reluctantly agreed to Lavitz's proposal, with his usual "Whatever."

As the group made their way through town, they were stopped by an excitable short woman in overalls. "Oh my gosh, you're Sir Lavitz!" the woman exclaimed with glee. Lavitz chuckled shyly, clearly not used to being recognized. "Please, let me paint your portrait!" she pleaded with the uncomfortable Knight Captain. "Uh, certainly!" Lavitz declared, trying to sound proper and noble, like he felt a knight should. She then dragged Lavitz into her house, nearby, Squall and Shana reluctantly following. Inside the house was quite a mess. Paintings were scattered all about the house, with little rhyme or reason. The whole place was quite dingy, with no windows anywhere, the only light source coming from the lanterns scattered about the house. "Hold still," she said, readying her canvas, "this won't take long." As she painted Lavitz a pretty pretty portrait, Squall decided to look about the house. There were many portraits surprisingly unclaimed, some of which looked quite old, and various other art, such as a painting of a boat, and a sketch of a dragon. Then, a familiar sight caught Squall's attention. An old looking portrait covered in dust. The portrait was of a girl, with short curly hair, smiling softly. It was a face Squall immediately recognized. "Selphie?!" he thought, confused.

Shana noticed Squall staring at the portrait, and approached to investigate. "Someone you know?" she asked. "I- I'm not sure," Squall responded, still somewhat shocked to see the familiar face. "Tee-hee! All done!" the girl declared, handing the freshly painted portrait to Lavitz. "Thank you. I will treasure it, always." Lavitz said, still trying to sound noble. "Hey," Squall called out to the girl "When did you paint this?" he pointed to the portrait of Selphie. The girl walked over to see. "Oh, I didn't paint that one," she said. "Could you tell me who did?" he asked. "Uhm..." she paused to think about it for a minute, "I think that's one of my grandfather's old portraits."

"Could I talk to your grandfather?" Squall proceeded to question

"I'm afraid that's not possible, my grandfather died five years ago." she said. Squall was beginning to get frustrated. It seemed that every lead went to a dead end. "Is something the matter, Dart?" Lavitz asked in a concerned tone. "No, it's nothing."

The three departed, and finally arrived at Lavitz's home that evening. His house was impressively large, with two stories, and a large living room with various little knick-knacks strewn about. Lavitz's mother welcomed them all with a warm embrace, and made sure to tell embarrassing stories of Lavitz's childhood to his new acquaintances. She decided to cook a big dinner for everyone before they had to leave, and Shana even volunteered to help. Squall is neither a picky eater, nor a particularly skilled cook, so he did not volunteer. Lavitz decided to take that time to show Squall around the house. The rooms were fairly typical, a bedroom for Lavitz, a bedroom for his mother, and a guest bedroom with two beds. The final room Lavitz showed Squall was a rather impressive library. Bookshelves lined the walls with books on all sorts of topics. There was a wheeled staircase, presumably used to reach the higher-up books. Lavitz pushed the staircase about, until it faced a conspicuous trap-door in the roof. "Come, I want to show you my 'treasure'!" Lavitz said with enthusiasm as he led Squall through the trap-door. The door went directly up to the rooftop, where one could see the entire city. Even Squall had to admit that the view was quite nice. Just as Lavitz was preparing to tell Squall stories of his adventures, the two heard Lavitz mother call out that dinner was ready.

Later that night, Squall had difficulty trying to get sleep. All the information he had taken in weighed heavily on his mind, so he sat upon the rooftop, letting the cold night air bring him calm. The streets were empty, for the time being, so the experience was quite soothing, for a time. After a while, though, Squall felt eyes upon him again. He looked down and saw a woman with raven-black hair standing in the streets staring at him. She wore a dark blue suit-shirt, with a similarly colored battle-skirt. She seemed to be saying something to him, but she was speaking too quietly for Squall to hear. Just then, Squall heard someone approaching from the stair-case behind. "Dart, are you up there?" Lavitz said as he emerged from the trap-door. "Huh?" Lavitz grunted in confusion upon seeing Squall. "Who are you?" Lavitz asked, a bit startled. Squall answered, "It's me, Squall." Lavitz climbed out of the trap-doorway to stand on the rooftop to face Squall. "Squall, huh? What are you doing here? Where is Dart?" Lavitz questioned with assertion, taking a strong stance. Squall's eyes perked up as he averted his gaze toward Lavitz. "He heard my name?" Squall thought. "Where is Dart?!" Lavitz repeated. "I-..." Squall suddenly a guilty need to confess, "I killed him." Squall stood up to look Lavitz in the eye. "You..." Lavitz was clearly feeling strongly affected by Squall's words, his hands were in trembling fists, "You b*****d!" Lavitz punched Squall in the face, giving him a bloody lip, but Squall stood strong. He wiped the blood from his mouth, and looked at it for a moment, before waving his hand in a taunting manner. The two got into a fist-fight. Lavitz, fighting out of fury over the death of his friend, and Squall fighting to vent his frustrations. Squall's frustrations seemed evenly matched with Lavitz fury as the two traded blow for blow in the cold night air. Eventually, the fight became more heated, and Lavitz tackled Squall into the barn next door to Lavitz's house, which had an open roof-way. The fight carried on for a while, until Squall got the upper hand on Lavitz, and knocked him down from the barn, Lavitz landed on the hard ground, and stopped moving. Squall hopped down to check Lavitz's vitals. He was alive, just unconscious. Squall proceeded to carry Lavitz back into his house, and lie him on his bed. Squall returned to the guest bedroom, against his better judgement, and rested his weary body on the bed. He had decided he would try to explain his situation that morning.

However, the very next morning didn't go quite as Squall had expected. He awoke to the sight of Lavitz grinning bruised face. "C'mon, wake up, Dart!" he said excitedly, "You're going to miss mother's breakfast!" Squall slowly rose, groggy and disoriented. "He's calling me 'Dart' again? What's going on with this place?" Squall thought as he stood up. The rest of the morning went uneventfully. Everyone still referred to Squall as "Dart." Lavitz seemed to be under the impression that their fight was all some nightmare. After breakfast, Lavitz took Squall and Shana to the black-smith so that they could be better equipped for the battle ahead. Shana bought a sturdy new long-bow to replace the shabby old one she had been using since Hellena. Squall, on the other hand, was perfectly content with his Gunblade. That was the moment when Lavitz first took notice of it. "Hey Dart, what kind of sword is that? It looks a bit off."

"This isn't quite the same as a sword," Squall explained, "this is a Gunblade. The chambers here send vibrations through the blade whenever I pull this trigger, for maximum damage output."

"Wow, that's quite a thing," Lavitz said, pretending to understand. "Where'd you get it?"

"I-..." Squall hesitated, "I made this one myself," he said. It wasn't a lie, either, as SeeDs were taught to build their own weapons from raw materials, to ensure nobody ended up with a cheap mass-produced weapon. After all, they were an elite mercenary force. They couldn't be caught using cheap brittle metal.

Lavitz was amazed by Squall's apparent ingenuity. Lavitz asked Squall if he could hold it, to which Squall continuously responded "No." Eventually, Lavitz tired of bugging Squall, and purchased a new spear to replace his rather beat up old one. Lavitz then proceeded to address the group, "Is everybody ready to leave for Hoax?" Squall and Shana nodded. "Excellent! Then let us be off!"