I know it's very late.
I got stuck working on something else and ended up with severe writers block. But a picture my friend Queen000 has on her MSM got me motivated again. I hope you enjoy this chappie
There was no warning in the next moments. They had all been sitting peacefully minding their own business, with the conversation heading towards light and more jovial subjects than before. Then they all found themselves in an uncomfortable pile on the ground, with screams echoing in their ears as the other passengers responded to the shock of the situation. Ryu tried to shake the stunned Toby off him but another blast rocked through the shattering train and the screams echoing from the other compartments increased in intensity and assaulted his sensitive ears.
There was a ticking noise, indicating a countdown had begun and another explosion was forth coming. The train rocked dangerously once more, as loud detonations echoed through rooms, followed closely by more screams. Ryu could barely hear the flickering explosions of flames beginning to eat away at the rooms near theirs, and could just feel the heat beginning to increase as the flames got steadily closer. There was one more bang, shaking the train, so close to where the struggling group lay, sending slight shockwaves down to the six on the floor.
There was no warning here, just a slight tipping and then the badly damaged train fully tipped on one side, sending himself and the other sprawling towards the wall that was now on the bottom. He smacked harshly into the eldest boy of the group and he heard Kayden grunt in pain at the impact. Not a second after that, Toby smacked into his back, Kayden grunted in pain once more as more weight was added onto him.
He shifted quickly, relieving Kayden of the burden of his and Toby's added weight. 'I'll be damned.' Ryu found himself thinking. 'The train is getting bombed. Kohana was right.'
He could feel the heat of the flames reaching through the door beginning to heat the surrounding area around himself, which would soon give rise to the wooden interior of the wall catching on fire and trapping them all inside. It was only a few minutes away now. He felt the twinges of panic beginning to stir inside. Dark smoke was already beginning to spill from the opening under the door, making it hard to breathe in without coughing harshly. Ryu tried for one more breath, but the choking darkness only filled his lungs once more, forcing him to cough to try to clear it out. 'We're gonna die…Oh Hyne…we're gonna die in here!'
He half closed his eyes, as the panic began to throw horrible images of what his death would be like. 'What does it feel like to be burned alive?'
"Ryu!" Kohana yelled over the heat and confusion of the moment. "Break the window!"
"How?!" he shot back.
"Use your gun!"
He nodded, finding himself calming as someone had taken control over the situation, once more, when he lost it again. Why it was always Kohana, he did not know. It was like something inside her made her be more inclined to be a leader, but at this moment it didn't matter.
As black smoke trickled under the door, and the wood began to heat beneath them, he took aim with his shot gun, carefully aiming through the smoldering darkness that was beginning to cloud his vision. 'There!' He thought to himself as his aim improved, he felt the shot and believed it would not miss. The gun spoke and the window shattered, sending shards flickering down towards the group as it did. Kohana ducked down, sheltering her dog from the shards of glass that embedded down towards them. She did not see Kayden shift to block the glass from hitting her.
"Kayden…use your bungee equipment. Shoot it through the window and hook onto the side of the train." Kohana yelled once more, choking slightly as the smoke began to cloud her airways.
He could see her look down, watched her give her panting dog a concerned look. Dogs would suffocate faster than humans. Ryu wondered what it was doing to her, having to watch her pet suffer like this and have to keep calm to escape. Most others would have given into the panic of losing something they valued that much and would have given up. 'She's holding on for him.' Ryu realized.
Kayden nodded and quickly set up the shot. They would probably only have one chance at this, before the fire began to eat away at the door. Ryu found himself wondering how their Instructor and Headmaster were fairing during this venture. He blinked and caught the sight of the dark elastic like line shooting through the air before it hooked onto the outside of the car. Kayden pulled on it, checking to see if it would support his weight.
"Only take what you can carry. Items and weapons only. We don't have time for anything else." Kohana instructed again, still sheltering her dog from the heat that was steadily growing worse as the seconds ticked on.
Ryu was glad she was around; when it seemed that no one else could take control in a desperate situation, Kohana would step up and assume leadership of the group. Ryu watched as Kayden quickly climbed up his bungee line, reaching the window and reinforcing the grip on the outer side of the wall. Breana and Toby followed soon after, climbing up quickly, each carrying their weapons between them. He swept his gun into the holster and nodded to his sister.
Kohana would not be able to support Bast and her Gunblade when leaving the train, and if presented with the choice of leaving her weapon or her pet in a compartment that was soon to erupt into flames she would not hesitate to save her beloved animal first. He gestured towards the black dog, and saw Kohana's grateful look answering his quiet statement. Ryu gripped the dog around the middle, carefully balancing the badly panting and whimpering pet on his hip before using his free hand to latch onto the rope and curved his legs upwards to create a lower grip on it. As soon as he had the rope in one hand, he switched his hold on the dog, so that he was resting on his legs and, without waiting a moment longer, hauled himself and the dog up the rope using the strength in his arms alone.
As soon as he got close enough, Kayden reached down and plucked the upset animal from him and lifted Kohana's pet out of harms way and out the window. Ryu could hear the dog breathing harshly, getting fresh untainted air into its lungs. He too took a desperate gulp of the outside air, feeling the lightheadedness fading the more oxygen he took in.
Ryu continued the climb and had just pulled himself out when the train, shaking slightly to regain his strength when another detonation blasted through the air once more, aimed at the doomed train. Thankfully, it did not slide any further onto the ground at the most recent impact to its shattering hall.
He caught his sister's hand and yanked her out of the window before she lost grip on the rope. If he had missed it would have taken both Ronna and Kohana down as she fell back to what now was the floor. Behind them, they could almost see the flames beginning to eat away at the wooden walls of their compartment.
Kohana was half way up the rope when the first of the fire started to eat away at the wall beneath her. She gripped the rope tightly, holding on with only one hand, and, without pause, a stream of water erupted from her outstretched balled fist, aimed down at the flames that were just forming beneath her. The water hit the angry flames and it temporarily doused the effects of the choking fires, giving her the moments she needed to escape the coffin like room.
She was just at the window when Kayden cursed suddenly.
Ryu looked away from the girl for only a moment to catch sight of what had caused Kayden to become so upset that he would resort to swearing. There beneath him were people running to and fro, looking for an escape from the advancing army. The attackers were not strangers, not to them.
The army beneath them was wearing the formal uniforms of SeeDs from both Galbadia and Balamb Garden and they were attacking everyone that got in their way, slicing down innocents with the practiced ease of seasoned killers. Swords flickered in the light, followed soon by guns and other firearms. Several shurikens and daggers danced across the landscape slicing into the panicked people below.
Ryu blinked in shock at the carnage he was witnessing occurring around him. Just ahead of him, a woman ran with her husband. There was no escape, as they were brought into a net of death and neatly, as if it were nothing, the two were killed. Their empty bleeding bodies fell to the ground stacking up on others that were already dead.
There was death everywhere, and Ryu was sure he was going to be sick once more. He could not make out any civilians that were alive; all were lying dead or dying due to the injuries they had sustained. He ducked back into the hidden section of the train window that the five were sitting on, just as a group turned in their direction. 'Please don't see us…please…'
Kohana climbed up a second later and immediately caught sight of their situation. "What the hell?!" She responded, shock evident in her tone.
A moment later Ryu tugged her back into the shadow of the window, hiding as a group of SeeDs passed the window. Something was said between the group and it caused the others to laugh. It was sickening that someone could find something to be amused at by this situation; how cold that person had to be.
"A Galbadian SeeD shot at me!" Kayden said in outraged shock. "Right at me. I cast protect, but he shot at me!"
Kohana did not answer, watching the fight carefully.
"They're SeeDs'" Ronna spoke up. "What are they doing?! Why are they doing this?!!" Her tone became more desperate as she continued. "Why?! I don't understand!"
Ryu reached out and took her hand with his, hoping to draw her attention to him and off the horrible fight occurring around them.
"They're not SeeDs." Kohana remarked slowly, her gaze traveling back to the hideous battle occurring just steps away from their location. "They're only dressed like us. They're not SeeDs."
'How can she seem so calm?!' Ryu thought to himself. 'But just because she seems not to feel what's going on doesn't mean she doesn't…just that she chooses to deal with it later. Right now she's the leader, and we all need her to keep calm…I need her to keep calm.'
"Look." Kohana continued. "There's no magic. Galbadian AND Balamb SeeDs know how to use magic but there's nothing, even at an opportunity to cast magic. That ones injured…" Kohana continued, pointing subtly in the direction to a wounded member of the 'SeeD' army. "But no one's casting a curative spell on him…they don't know how. They're not SeeDs."
"What do we do?" Ryu found himself asking.
"We have to find a more secure location…We're vulnerable up here." Kayden realized. "But who do we trust. I don't recognize anyone." The boy continued peering out at the army surrounding the train.
"No one. We run." Kohana said simply. "We only trust people we know. On the count of five we charge. Don't worry about taking them out, we just have to break through the lines and get away."
"Then what?" Bre asked.
"Back to the city, it gives us an opportunity to hide and regroup." Kohana answered. "We're more likely to be missed by these impostors if we're surrounded by civilians."
"Are they looking for us?" Breana asked once more.
"I'm not sure, but I'm not going to stay around to find out. Kayden and I are first, then Bre and Ronna, Ryu and Toby your last. Ryu, you cover us and Toby, you heal us or cast offensive magic spells. Take out as many as can that are coming in to the right or left of us, and if you can try to take out some from further ahead as well, don't hesitate. Watch for those that have firearms. Breana and Ronna, pay more attention to the side lines but watch the front to. Kayden and I will be the main charge and will deal with the majority that approach us from the front. We head in the general direction left. Kayden and I will push in that direction, you four just have to follow. Everyone cast protect as well."
"Will that work?" Ronna asked; Ryu nodded to wondering the same thing.
They all looked to her. Ryu watched as her serious eyes darted once more to the army surrounding the train and then back. 'She's giving us orders and keeping an eye on the situation. She would make a good SeeD. Hell, she's already a good leader.'
"They'll expect us to be panicked without a strategy for getting through. If we stick together as a group we're more likely to surprise them. Toby, can you take Bast with you? Just jump with him and then put him down, he'll stay with you." Kohana directed once more. "If we move, we move now. The army still doesn't have the train completely surrounded and their forces are disjointed and separated unevenly. The majority are to the right of us…the city is to the left."
"Sure…no problem." Toby answered honestly. "I'll take care of Bast; promise. Just remember to do your part." The boy joked slightly.
"I will."
"What about the Headmaster and Instructor Bane?" Ryu asked.
"This might seem cold, but we don't have the time to worry about them right now. The Headmaster is with trained SeeDs. I'm sure they're fine. We have to worry about ourselves." Kohana answered back. "We act as our training dictates and retreat to a secure hiding location. If it's possible we rendezvous with them, but for now we're on our own. Ready?" She asked directing the question to everyone.
They all nodded to the plan and there were six flares of light blue as the protect spells surrounded them completely before turning invisible not a moment later. Kayden held up a hand and slowly counted down the seconds, starting from five. Ryu could feel himself mentally preparing as Kayden reached the last second; and as that finger fell he found himself following the four down the side of the train, almost using the tilting side as a slide to reach the ground.
Kayden and Kohana landed first and right behind them Breana and Ronna. Next to him, Bast and Toby landed on the ground. There was no pause and no hesitation as all darted out, pulling out their primary weapons as they did and without thought, he found himself charging through the shocked army. He shot ahead occasionally and to the sides, clearing a path for them to run. Ryu did not hesitate and when one came into his sight with a firearm aimed at the group, he would shoot ahead and take that person down before they could be shot at. Beside him, Toby fired spell after spell at the enemies trying to surround the group from the sides, and if there was more gathering ahead he would direct his aim ahead instead.
It was an effective system; clearing out the army from the sides so that they could not be surrounded and cut off from one another. Ryu continued following the skill of the Gunbladers, thankful finally that he had a long range weapon and did not need to come in close range to those he needed to kill. He wondered for a moment, in the heat of the battle, what that one fact was doing to the two leaders of their charge. How many people they had looked in the eye and then had to kill, how many nightmares would haunt their sleeping vision now?
The soldiers were not trained as SeeDs, but had more training than the civilians they had killed. When presented with a group trained as SeeDs, they were pushed away and back at the individual skills that came from all and could not come close to the group to injure them.
It was a sickening cycle. This group killing those that had no experience in fighting and then being killed by those that had some training in self defence. Ryu wondered when it would end.
Ryu tried not to think of how many he would kill today, just so he would remain alive; trying not to watch as their bodies fell dead, to his skill with a shotgun. Beside him Toby fired a curative spell onto Kayden and continued to cure the group, before refocusing on spilling forth as many offensive spells as he could: fires, blizzards, water, thunders and tornado's; anything that could take out multiple enemies with one spell.
Ryu knew why Kohana had set one magic user of the group, so that he would be able to concentrate on magic only and not have to fight those approaching him. Toby had been picked as he was an extreme close ranged fighter and would not be able to get close enough to injure the soldiers without experiencing some damage himself.
As the fight continued, the group pushed further and further away from the doomed train, and into the advancing army of fake SeeDs. He watched as the Gunblades flickered and twirled around, sending rivets of blood dancing up from the bodies they destroyed and their individual triggers went off in only seconds of intervals to one another. 'How many have they killed this afternoon…I wonder if they're counting?'
Ryu watched as Breana threw her Javelin ahead into a body and would wait until the Gunbladers passed the corpse to retrieve her primary weapon; she would rely on her supply of backup daggers or her stocked magic to attack any that fell in her range in between those times. Ronna danced out and would strike down an enemy with the flickering swords of her katana's, pushing them between the blades until they died and if none were close enough to her she would send spells in the direction of the enemy. Both girls shot magic; fire, ice, water, thunder and status effect spells, out above the heads of the two leaders of the group and to the sides to increase the odds of their escape.
He continued to fire to the sides ensuring that a large force would not be able to surround them. Ryu also shot over the shoulders of the gunbladers, clearing a path, knowing that the amount of energy it took from the leaders of the charge to maintain the energy and stamina to hold off the numbers ahead would soon wane as the adrenaline fled their bodies and exhaustion would set in. If that were to happen, they would then be less effective in holding up their end of the plan.
Taking aim once more, he shot down another man as he approached from the left, and another fell after that. 'How many lives will I end today?' He thought to himself.
Ryu flicked his gaze ahead, and saw a potential danger occurring ahead of the two gunbladers. They were overwhelmed with the numbers that were charging in right now and ahead of where they could reach, two people stood, aiming firearms at the pair. He did not even think, just switched his target and shot them both down.
Kayden threw him a grateful look before switching back and pushing at the number that were bearing down on them now. The soldiers hesitated, now that their plot had been foiled by his quick reflexes, and were slow to react to the twin katana's, the thrown javelin and the two gunblades that advanced into them.
Their numbers were increasing, no matter how many they took out. It looked like their desperate push to the outskirts of the battle would soon fail.
"This isn't working!" Kohana yelled suddenly. "There's too many of them. Everyone cast haste on themselves and get ready to run in the direction of the city. We wait at the entrance for everyone to show up! Toby!"
"I got him!" Toby answered, reassuring their leader that her pet would be fine.
Ryu closed his eyes and summoned forth the magic spell he needed. He noted to his left that Toby had stopped casting magic spells and had scooped up the black dog in his arms instead. Ahead of them the Gunbladers each took out the closest of their enemies before changing their stance, indicating that they were about to cast their own spells. He concentrated once more and felt the shift in time begin as the magic flowed out of his extended hands and surrounded him. Everyone, other than the members of his group, were moving so slowly in his sight. Rather they were moving at normal speed, but the haste spell he had cast on himself made it seem like their motions were slowed and bulky and only occurred after several minutes of pause. Ryu knew that that was only an affect of the spell he had cast.
He ran, keeping up with the blurry figures of his friends back towards the city they had just left. If they pulled this off successfully then it would appear to the soldiers that the small group of fighters had vanished from sight, being there one second and gone the next. They only had a few seconds to run through the army and away from the danger they had inadvertently found themselves in. He only had a few seconds to muse and then he realized that their destination was approaching rapidly as the group continued their run from the attacking army and back into the relative safety of the city. 'At least it will be safer in there then out here.'
And before he knew what was happening he shifted out of the haste spell and back to regular time, just as those around him made the shift too. Just ahead of them, Kohana, Kayden, Breana and Ronna were breathing hard, trying to catch their breaths from the dangerous run they had all undertook to escape the approaching army. Behind them, the sounds of the battle echoed dully in their ears, it seemed so far away, but in reality the train was just outside the city limits. He could see the fire licking at the top of the train now, from his position on the ground.
What was it about Kohana that made him listen and made him follow? What was it about her that made them all follow, even Kayden? There was a spark in her, a light that shone deep inside, that attracted people to her even if she wished they would stay away. He had felt the light once before, when looking up into her shadowed grey eyes in the cavern where his life changed for the worse, and somehow she had made it feel in that moment that it would be okay.
Ryu had felt it as she took charge of the group when no one else could think through the sickening smoke. For some reason, that spark that resided deep inside her reminded the shotgun specialist of someone; but in this moment he could not think of who that was.
Bast whined in a tone that suggested he was not pleased with where he found his present location to be. There was definitely a note of displeasure that echoed in the dog's voice from underneath the collapsed Toby. Bast squirmed his way out from under the tired boy's body and made a beeline for Kohana, climbing into her lap and licking her face with his long and wet tongue. She twitched at the touch and immediately seemed to pull herself together. Bast moved from his position and the girl slowly climbed to her feet and looked around at their surroundings.
Ryu was surprised at how much endurance such a small person could have. How quickly the girl could pull back in the residual energy she had after that desperate attack and resume her role as the leader. It was not something anyone could do.
Ahead of them, Ryu noted, probably at the same moment that Kohana did, Galbadian army guards were staring at them in shock; having a group of kids just seemingly appear right in front of them. Their dark blue and silver uniforms immediately told the cadet that they were lower class soldiers and really were not a threat to them.
She shifted her stance, indicating that she expected some form of attack from them, but remained in a non confrontational pose. Ryu found himself climbing to his feet, followed quickly by the other recovering members of his group and moved to flank Kohana.
"Hey…It's SeeD Cadets!" One yelled, after their shock had seemingly died. "SeeD is attacking the train systems! They're involved!"
"Get them!!!" Several yelled at once and began to slowly surround himself and his friends.
From the expression that darted across Kohana's face she had been expecting this recent development but still was not overly pleased that it had occurred anyway.
'As if it could get any worse!" Ryu thought to himself as the small group of city guards continued to approach and with what they thought was subtly timed movements they carefully began to surround the tired group of fighters on all sides.
"What do we do?" Breana asked desperately, staring at the people surrounding them. "They think we're involved with the attack! We can't fight them or it will look bad on us!"
"Run!!!" Kohana directed suddenly.
Without waiting for a more clear order the group of five darted after their leader and out of the net the soldiers were setting up, Toby took out the ones closer to him, knocking some down with quick and barely seen attacks, Kayden charged the leader of the group and took him down before any sense of the situation could be made. Ronna tripped one up to her left and Bre continued the assault by slamming a knee into the back of his spine. Kohana was the only one that got through without having to resort to fighting with the soldiers.
Once they were past the city guards all continued their interrupted run back into the city, following the girl and her dog into the confusing maze of streets and avenues, all the while following Kohana even though she had no idea of where she was leading them. Then again he also had no idea of where he was going, and assumed that the others were just as lost as he was in the large city.
They all had made their choice while watching the horrific fight from the side of the train; each and every one had chosen to trust her and had turned to her when they needed someone to be their leader. And now that the decision had been made, there was no going back from that.
Ryu lost sight of the slowly moving guards as they took turn after turn, keeping up with the quickly moving girl as best they could. There were shouts of anger from the surprised guards they left behind as their youth allowed them to keep ahead of the soldiers as well as slowly increase the distance between them and the soldiers as they continued to run.
The only ones that usually were able to keep up with a pack of slightly panicked SeeD cadets were other cadets and SeeD themselves. And by then it was usually the cadets that would fall behind the SeeDs. Kohana slowed, warning those behind her that she thought it was safe to stop running as they had lost the guards several blocks ago when she had ducked into the first alley way and ran through a crowded park full of surprised people who just stood there and watched in shock as the easily recognizable Cadets from Galbadia Garden charged through their peaceful lunches with their family.
After clearing the park path, Kohana changed direction, spearing instead into the trees that sat at the end of the park. The shadows flowed over them as they continued to gain distance they needed from the guards, and before he was ready to, Ryu found himself back on a main street in Deling city.
There were civilians that were also shouting in anger as he dodged past them, making sure he did not accidentally send one sprawling to the ground with his speed. It was almost more difficult to dodge them as the civilians tried to dodge them at the same time.
Kohana ducked into an almost invisible alley way and moved down giving the others enough room to slink out of sight of the streets surrounding them on either side and all of them sat down to give themselves a second to breathe. Bast amused himself by slinking up to his owner's side and slipping onto her lap once more. Ryu found himself, for a second time, wondering what happened to their Headmaster and their Instructor after the train was bombed. He just hoped they were all alright.
"Can anything else go wrong today?" Kayden exploded finally.
"Don't say that." Breana advised from her position at the wall. "Whenever you say that, something else does go wrong…"
"Shhh." Kohana hushed them suddenly.
Ryu shied into the shadows and listened for whatever noise had caused the girl to start so badly. His eyes widened at what he saw.