This is another joint fic by me and Haru 93. For simplicity, Haru’s parts will once again be written in italics, and mine in underline.
Chapter One: Signo Squad
The man looked at his comrades. He was all set for any eventuality, be it a flood (a rope was looped into his belt) or an invader (his twin-bladed knife held ready in his right hand). His long, blonde-brown hair fell to his shoulders, framing his face. A sly grin could be seen below his piercing blue eyes. As he addressed the team before him, his tail twitched with excitement.
“New members of the Signo Squad! We have been charged with the protection of many priceless artefacts, and we must not fail in this duty! Ours will be a simple patrol of the area, a check into the chamber itself, and an observation of the amounts of treasure within! I must say to you now, before I know your names, that you are NOT permitted to touch any item within, under any circumstances!”
The men (and woman) nodded. “Now! I will point to each of you in turn, and you must give me your forename, your skills and where you have come from! You!” His left hand shot out to the girl on the far right. “Ummm… Well, my name’s Rikku, I have a bit of talent with Alchemy, you know, mixing items and stuff? And I was born on Bikanel Island.” The in front nodded. “And you?”
“Don’t ya recognize me, boss? It’s me, Blank! Of course, for those of you who don’t know me, I’m a good thief, and I come from Lindblum, that city riiiight over there… That enough for ya, Zidane?” The man in front shook his head, laughing. “Next!” The boy looked no more than 17, but then, neither did Rikku. “Name’s Seifer. I’m a Gunblade specialist, and I come from Balamb. Happy?” Zidane nodded. “That’s enough. You?” The next boy looked older, 20, perhaps?
“My name is Light. I’m an assassin, with my own methods. Sorry for the accent: I come from Kanto, Japan.” Zidane now looked at the final person in the line. Blonde-brown hair, like his own, but spiked up from his head. His posture was… almost girlish. “Oh, me? Oh, sorry! Well, I’m a musician of sorts… and I come from this big castle out to the west…” Zidane looked at him, oddly. “Your name?” The man laughed. “I forgot! My name’s Demyx. Nice to meet you all!”
Zidane nodded. “Right. So now we all know who everybody is, so what’s next is to get down to work. All of you follow me, single file.” With that, he started walking away, flicking his long fringe out of his face. He enjoyed the authority that came from being the self elected leader of the Signo Squad, like having the power to boss people around and have them follow his orders exactly. Rikku jogged behind Zidane, trying her hardest to keep up with him as he strode away.
“So, umm…like, what exactly are we doing now? Where are we going, and all?” Rikku laughed. Zidane sighed, but didn’t stop walking as he answered her. “We’re going on sentry duty, to protect the chamber.” Demyx chuckled from the back of the line and Zidane stopped walking at last. He didn’t say anything, but Demyx answered his silent question anyway. “Oh, sorry. You’re not actually kidding? Whoa. But sentry duty? For real? I mean, that’s just painful. Ouch painful, kinda thing. Isn’t that a bit…I dunno, low-key? Dull? All that jazz?” Zidane sighed slowly.
“Do you think this is all below you? We have been entrusted with the most important job! We need to make sure nobody breaks into the chamber, and that its secrets stay safe. So yes, for real. We are on sentry duty, whether you like it or not. If you think it’s beneath you, then you can go. We don’t need someone like that here.” Zidane’s voice boomed out powerfully and Rikku laughed nervously. The group fell back into line, walking on, with Demyx muttering to himself at the back, shoulders stooped, hands shoved in his pockets. Then he stopped.
“Yeah, okay. Do you mind if I just say something quick?” he asked. Zidane stopped again, cross at yet another interruption. He owed Cid for so many things, so he wanted to do this job to the best of his ability in return. Zidane wasn’t one for rules and regulations, but he always followed his morals, and returning favours to people who had earned it came almost top, second only to saving girls in need. Demyx continued. “There’s…Something came up. I have to go. Right now, actually. So, good luck with the job, and I’ll catch you up soon, okay?” He didn’t wait for a response, simply ran off.
Demyx ran a little way, until the group was out of sight, and then stood still, panting. He hated running. Checking one last time for anyone else, he created a black portal and stepped into it, laughing as he went. Meanwhile, the group of people had progressed, still led by Zidane. Before long, they were standing in front of a golden door, glowing dazzlingly in front of them. Rikku gasped softly, and stretched out a hand to touch it, but Zidane slapped it away.
Rikku gasped as her hand was slapped back. That had never happened before… Her long blonde plaits fell into her eyes, and she looked away from Zidane. She… hadn’t gotten what she wanted… This couldn’t be real! She ALWAYS got what she wanted! This… just wasn’t fair! How could he do this? So not fair! But then, I guess she couldn’t have everything she wanted… What was she thinking? Yes she could!
She placed her hand on the Golden door, before Zidane could stop her. An alarm sounded from nowhere, and she screamed. Zidane whirled round, glaring at her. “Look what you’ve done!” He pushed her back, and pulled out a piece of paper from his right pocket. The paper was entitled “Panic Button”, and had three large letters written underneath in bright red ink. Rikku crept up, and tried to read those letters, but Zidane turned and shouted them loud and clear before she had a chance. “RUN!”
Blank looked scared. He recognized this warning alarm… No! It couldn’t be! The roof of the Chamber exploded, but no Gold flew from the wound. The roof of the chamber seemed to…melt. The gold simply liquidated, covered the gap, and formed a new roof, as normal and shiny as the last. Crash! The gold exploded once more, liquidated, healed. CRASH! Third time lucky. A great, black Dragon emerged from the already liquidating roof, and spread its wings. With a fourth explosion, it rushed into the sky, so high it flew out of view. Zidane looked at Rikku, rage in his eyes. Rikku looked sheepishly at the floor. “Umm… Sorry, or whatever?”
Zidane was fuming. Everything was falling apart, and it would end up being all his fault somehow. First Demyx disappeared to god knows where, and now this…He charged away, dragging a bewildered Rikku behind him, who then grabbed Blank who was holding onto everyone else. Zidane crashed through the forest, thinking furiously as his feet forced their way through thick grasses and over heavy tree roots. Why had Cid given him all the responsibility? Blank was a much better leader, and now something like this had happened, Zidane could finally admit that. It was partly because it was true that Zidane started thinking that, but it was also partly because of that dragon-like beast that had flown out of the chamber.
Zidane felt a tugging on his arm, and looked round to see Blank standing next to him. Zidane slowed down and eventually stood still, noting they were in a clearing, and the sunlight filtered down through the canopy of leaves. He looked at Blank questioningly. “There’s no point in running. Everyone’s already exhausted. Besides, that thing was huge! If it wanted to come after us, it would no matter how quickly we ran – it could catch up with us easily.” Zidane saw Blank’s point, and nodded, dragging his shoe in the dirt.
Rikku bent over, resting her hands on her knees, her eyes wide and her hair hanging around her face. She was bushed; not one for running. When she felt a hand on her back, she jerked up quickly to see Seifer peering at her concernedly. “You okay?” he asked. Rikku nodded, not enough breath to speak, and squeezed out a quick smile. Seifer smiled back, a relaxed, chilled smile, and ran one gloved hand through blonde hair.
Blank exclaimed, and everyone looked at him. Their eyes fell on his outstretched arm, and followed it up his torso, past his spiky, brown hair, and straight up into the sky. There, in the gaps between the thick trees, the group could make out a great black dragon. On its back, they could just make out the figure of a man with long silver hand, and a great sword in his hands. “It comes!” Blank shouted, and the dragon pulled into a steep descent, and glided to a stop on the floor. Everyone readied their weapons.
The man jumped off his draconic steed. Silver-blue hair dropped to below his shoulders. He clattered his long nails together. Flicking his hair back, he drew his blade and prepared himself in stance. “My name is… unimportant. You may know me as the Moonstone. My lord has demanded your heads, and those are what I’ll give him. I admit, a black dragon is NOT my colour, but seeing as my darling white one passed one not too long ago…” The man stopped. Focused his gaze. “You…”
Light didn’t even have time to react. The blade pierced his heart like a hot knife through butter, and quicker than lightning, the man leapt back onto his dragon. Light fell, hitting the ground hard, as Blank jumped to his side, shaking him. Zidane glared at the man, past hatred swelling up inside of him. As the dragon reared its head, Zidane grabbed his twin-bladed dagger and dashed forwards. Seifer simply brought his blade to shoulder, gazing down the sharp edge. Bang! As the gun part of his weapon exploded into life, Zidane sliced upwards, and the dragon’s head fell, the gunshot wound still bleeding from its left cheek. The man simply gaped. “How… How did you…?” Flash. He brought his arm up. Zidane, who had jumped to strike at the man, stopped in mid-air.
Zidane’s mouth opened and closed, like a goldfish. The man began laughing. “Oh Zidane, you old fool! You never could best me alone. Your skills as a Thief may be unmatched, but you have yet to grasp” He twisted his hand. Zidane cried out in pain. “The full powers of magic!” Rikku screamed. The man threw his arm to the side, Zidane crashing into a nearby tree. Knocked unconscious, he fell to the floor. The man leapt from the carcass of his dragon, and ran into the woods. In seconds, he was totally out of sight.
Hours later, Zidane woke up. Everyone was stood around him, or sat on logs. He looked up at the sky, cursing his bad luck. “Damn you, Kuja!”
