Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy Saga ❯ High Noon ( Chapter 6 )

Final Fantasy Saga

Chapter VI: High Noon

"Where are you taking me?" he asked, not even sure who it was that was carrying him, but knowing immediately it was not one of his friends. He could simply feel it.

A cold and calm voice answered very promptly, "To the school nurse. Cloud hurt you really badly, you need to get these injuries treated."

His vision still very blurry, Ark found himself now asking, puzzled, "Who are you?"

"I'm Squall. Squall Leonhart. Your friend Gren and I fought a duel, and as the loser I have little else to do now," the man explained to Ark, "I am not your enemy, so don't worry. You're going to get your wounds treated in a few minutes."

"Thanks," Ark said shortly, sighing, "Hey, you're one of Cloud's friends, aren't you?"

"Yes," then Squall added, "However, I'm not really much for conversation, so if you don't mind I'd appreciate you getting some rest now."

"Fine, fine," Ark decided to appease him, seeing as the guy was helping him out and all, but he still was finding it hard to slip into unconsciousness, worry plaguing him. He now knew that Gren had won his battle, but what worried him most was Eliza. This was the first time since he'd met her that Ark couldn't protect her from anything. When they were separated it was different, he wasn't even there to put her in danger, but now she was in a lot of it and there was nothing that Ark could do about it. He hated this, since when did a fight get Ark so out of it that he couldn't even see? He'd broken his word to not get hurt, but kept his promise to win at all costs, so he wasn't even sure if Eliza was going to be mad at him or not when all of this was over.

* * * * * * *

Gren now found himself face to face with the Tonberry, which was considered by many to be one of the deadliest creatures alive. It looked small and cute, but he saw what it was hiding with that appearance. The green creature stared at him with its yellow eyes. Wearing a brown robe and having a glowing lantern in its left hand, its right hand holding a knife. Still aching from his fight with the Behemoth, Gren hoped he could bring this creature down faster and with less cost, because he still had a lot more to take care of even after this one. It began to slowly walk towards Gren, at a very odd pace, and he prepared himself. From his study, he knew that the things had two attacks, and it was well within its limits to kill him with either.

The first attack involved the lantern, it would send a flaming skull out to collide with him, and the other attack was simply with its knife, a stabbing attack. These two things were all that a Tonberry did while threatened, and he could tell that it now perceived him as a threat. After a moment, the Tonberry stopped, and released the flaming skull from the lantern. Gren saw the skull fly towards him with quite extraordinary speed, and he tried to block it with his swords. This was, however, to no avail. The impact it had parted his swords, sending them flying in opposite directions and landing on the ground, as the skull hit Gren full force. He flew back and hit the ground, his entire body feeling burnt and charred, as the skull dissolved. He groaned and looked to see one of his swords by his side and picked it up, only to see the Tonberry standing right over him. It brought the knife down, and Gren was barely able to block it by grabbing the blade of the knife with his hand. Blood trickling down from the wound on his palm as he gripped the blade, the Tonberry continued putting a shocking amount of strength into their power struggle. For something so small, the Tonberry was actually more physically powerful than Gren, and if he didn't do something fast he was going to lose his grip and get stabbed to death.

Taking his free hand and trying to find his sword that he saw out of the corner of his eye, Gren found it and quickly brought the sword swinging towards the Tonberry. Caught by surprise, the Tonberry was hit with the hilt of the sword in the side of its head, and it then flew to the side and skidded across the ground. Looking at his hand, Gren sighed, it would be hard for him to fight with two swords effectively with a wound like that. He tore off a piece of his tattered shirt and wrapped it around the wound on his palm and sighed. His body was now in further pain due to the burning skull attack, but the Tonberry wasn't getting up, so it seemed as if he had won. He grabbed the other sword, despite the difficulty he would have using it properly, and went on. His next target was the Green Dragon.

* * * * * * *

"Ashforn seems to be causing our monsters trouble, he's beaten two of them now," Setzer pointed out to Seymour, "Should I intervene?"

"No," Seymour watched Gren with interest, "Order the men to release the Marlboro and the Rexaur. Let us see how he fares with even more on the battlefield."

"But if he defeats all of our monsters then the battle is theirs, you know," Setzer said, "We definitely shouldn't risk it."

"If he withstands a Green Dragon, a Rexaur, and a Marlboro, then he will be so injured that there's no way he could put up a fight for us. Also, the monsters have destroyed most of the enemy force. Our soldiers, you, and I will be more then enough to claim victory even if he beats the monsters," explained Seymour calmly, "Worry not, dear Setzer, there is nothing at all that they can do."

"Very well," Setzer responded, and then turned towards the guards who stood near the Marlboro and Rexaur cages, belting out Seymour's orders, "You heard the man! Release the Marlboro and the Rexaur, and then stand back!"

The guards did as he ordered, releasing their two most fearsome monsters. The Marlboro would spread many poisons and kill several things at once using its tentacles, while the Rexaur was fast and deadly when it came to hunting. These beasts had the resiliency of demons, and the nature to kill like demons as well, and it would take much more than blind luck and a sword to defeat beasts like them. They would almost definitely be enough to finish off the enemy, simple logic was enough to show such. Setzer was familiar with Gren Ashforn, however, and knew that if anyone had more than just luck and a sword, it was that boy. Even so, Seymour did make a very good point, their enemies simply didn't have the numbers it would take to recover from the losses in this battle. As a gambler, Setzer could tell that the odds were well in their favor, and perhaps the only reason he was nervous about this thing was because he tended to always bet on the long shot, and win regardless.

* * * * * * *

Laguna and Rufus kept their eyes locked for a very long time, each one waiting for the other to make the first move. Laguna had brought with him his favorite machine gun, one or two grenades, and a single pistol. He was certain that Rufus was armed in a similar fashion, though he couldn't be entirely certain until the fight was underway. Each of them knew that as soon as they began, there was no turning back, there was a very high chance that one of them would be dead before the hour struck noon. Laguna was hoping he could settle things without it coming to this, but such was not how fate decided to make things. Each of them had their fingers on the trigger of their guns, all they had to do was point and fire and then the battle would begin.

Thinking back to their earlier days, when he and Rufus had worked together to build this school, Laguna felt a sort of reminiscent sadness that it was time to close that chapter. The only people who knew what was under the Administration building were Laguna and another of the five founders, Edea. That was how Laguna had to keep it, or else the fate of everything he had worked to build for the last ten years might gall apart because of one little mistake which had been made. Back when Rufus, Laguna, Edea, Vivi, and Ansem had built this school the reason had been to create a place where the future heroes of the world could learn what was needed to save lives. But on top of that, Laguna and Edea had been aware of more, and had not told the others what their other purpose was, but instead built the Clock Tower and the Administration building to cover it all up. If Rufus discovered the truth, Laguna was certain that it would result in a great calamity, and he could not allow that.

Finished with his memories, Laguna aimed his gun and began to fire. Rufus evaded to the side, seeking cover behind an oak tree, and moved out from around it to fire his shotgun at Laguna a few times. Having seen this coming, Laguna was already rolling to some cover by the time Rufus had fired his shots, and hid behind one of the brick walls surrounding the building. For a while the two were taking shots at each other and then quickly moving back into cover, but it was getting them absolutely nowhere. Laguna took one of his grenades and threw it by the tree, forcing Rufus out of safety to get away from the blast. As Rufus did so, Laguna came out from behind the wall and took aim, but suddenly found it much harder to keep up with Rufus. It didn't take Laguna long to realize that Rufus had cast Haste on himself, and was using his speed to make it to cover once again. Casting a Slow spell on Rufus to balance things out again, Laguna found he did so a little too late, Rufus was now behind one of the metallic pillars near the door of the building.

Moving to get a better shot at Rufus, Laguna crouched and began to run towards another of the pillars near the entrance. As he did so, Rufus took advantage of that and tossed a grenade between Laguna and the pillar. When it went off, the blast knocked Laguna onto his back, and still a good ways from any cover. He had absolutely no time to be dazed, if Laguna didn't act quickly then Rufus was going to take the shot that this brief window granted him. Flipping into his feet, Laguna began to fire in the direction of the pillar, making sure that if Rufus tried to come out it would be his last mistake. Leaping over the rubble as he fired, Laguna got to the second pillar and hid behind it, his ammo out. He took out a new clip and reloaded, after this he only had one more clip, so he needed to make it count.

"You're better than I remember!" Rufus called out to Laguna, "I haven't felt the thrill of battle for some time, it's good to get this chance!"

"The same goes to you!" he couldn't stop himself from smiling, Laguna was actually having a lot of fun now that Rufus mentioned it.

* * * * * * *

Watching as the enemies other two monsters were released, Gren found himself coming closer and closer to realizing that there was still very little chance of success. Marlboro's and Rexaur's were notoriously dangerous, even more so than the first three creatures that were released. Gren was already injured, and as hard as the Moogles were fighting they still hadn't been able to even harm any of the monsters up to this point. He couldn't beat three more of them alone, in fact Gren was pretty sure that to take out even two more of them would be pushing it, but he had to try as hard as he could. If Ark were still around then the two of them together would have been more than enough to stop this, and Gren was seeing more and more how far Ark had come since their first meeting. He was truly proud of Ark, and was sure that it wouldn't be much longer until Ark could defeat even him.

There was no use reflecting on what could be, or on the future, when the present required so much of Gren's attention. If he didn't step in and keep fighting then it was a guarantee that the Marlboro, Rexaur, and Green Dragon were going to continue to unleash harm upon the others. Gren had to think of a way to get the monsters away from the bulk of the battle. If he could distract them for a little while then perhaps he could manage a way to buy the army enough time to claim victory. It was a long shot, and likely suicide, but he would find a way to make it all work out. He had little other choice since he knew that all he was able to do was buy some time anyways. How could he lure the monsters away from the battlefield though? There was no common food they all ate, no common predator they all feared, and no common scent they all liked. Thinking further, Gren realized it impossible to lure them all away, and came to the conclusion once again that all he could do was fight as hard as he could to defeat them.

Moving in to face the Green Dragon, Gren immediately took notice of the scales which covered its body. The only places that didn't have scales were the stomach and the neck of the beast, and so if he was going to penetrate its flesh he would have to get it to rear up first. Otherwise the scales were going to simply make his swords bounce off and have no effect at all. The dragon was breathing fire, charring many soldiers in its path, and swiping at others with its tail. The only remotely safe angle to attack at would be the side, and even then it would not take long for the dragon to take notice of him and attack Gren. He positioned himself a ways away, and at the dragons side, and moved in for his attack. The only chance he had was if he defeated it in a single maneuver most likely, a single swipe from the claws being fatal, as would be a blow from its tail or a bite from its jaw. Running as fast as he could, Gren drove one of his swords into the dragons hind leg, positioning it between the leg and the body and then twisting it so as to try and snap the bone. No matter how thick the scale, the flesh underneath could still feel impacts. While the dragon began to turn around to face Gren, he left his first sword locked into the monsters joint, and roll under it. Stabbing upwards, he drove the short sword as far into the beast as he could. The pain from this made the dragon try to snap backwards, and in doing so it twisted the sword in its leg so hard that the bone broke, and it fell over. It was still not dead though, and its head began to flail about wildly and spit fire in random directions. Gren had both disoriented and harmed the monster, and when a monster got to be such a way it often would act in great panic. Gren got his sword from its leg, making sure not to get kicked while the dragon was moving so erratically, and then went to its neck. This made for three monsters down, two to go, as he slit its throat and watched it slowly finish squirming until at last all life had been drained from the beast.

Panting, Gren was surprised he had managed to defeat this one without taking any injuries, as it was the most obviously destructive of the three initial monsters. Looking now, he had no time to rest, needing to fight and try to beat the last two creatures. The Marlboro was the most dangerous of the two that were left, but by the same token Gren had no idea how he could defeat it. The poisonous gas cloud surrounding it made it hard to get up close, and even if he managed it the tentacles were drawing things towards the monsters mouth as it devoured tirelessly. Gren's odds were better against the dinosaur Rexaur, as it had many weaknesses as well as strengths. It had short arms, so for a frontal assault the Rexaur had to rely on its mouth, and that would make its head wide open for attack. Gren smirked as he began to head after the Rexaur, if he was smart about this there was a slim chance he could actually defeat all of Seymour's monsters.

* * * * * * *

She had been right, Rufus was leaving the students locked in the dorms, with only one man guarding the front. Quistis knew Vincent was very powerful, but at the same time he also had a very flexible view on loyalty, and she was certain that if she tried it would be a simple task to get him to step aside. It was likely that Vincent only joined Rufus because he felt the circumstances would be interesting. Since he now stood guard while others fought in a large battle, it was also likely that Vincent was feeling more than a little bored with the way things were. Very carefully, Quistis walked over near Vincent and looked him eye to eye.

"Vincent," Quistis said, making sure she was firm in her words and tone, "Step aside. I'm going to let the students take part in the war."

"To what purpose?"

"Making things more even," Quistis answered abruptly, "I know you have no real reason to care, and you have no purpose in guarding them, so please allow me to do this."

Vincent nodded, his voice was always so unusually soothing, he was actually a very gentle man at heart, "I have no loyalty to Rufus. However, there is little else for me to do. Therefore I shall guard them."

"Go to the battle and fight, if you must do something," Quistis reasoned, "But do not deny them the same opportunity. Allow them to grow stronger."

He took a moment to consider what Quistis was saying, his mind likely weighing the pros and cons of breaking his word to Rufus. He then added something, "Letting this door open will tip the balance. The teachers and students are confined in here. If I allow you to free those inside, Rufus has as good as lost."

"Then decide the fate of this battle and allow yourself to receive some glory," she was hoping he believed her, he would be very hard to fight if it came to that, "Make a decision that will literally influence the schools entire history!"

"I do not do anything for glory, Quistis, you are aware of that. However, I can see…" Vincent paused for a moment, as if thinking about how to say what he meant, "I can see in your eyes that victory is important to you. As it is not important to me, I shall allow you to pass."

* * * * * * *

The Rexaur proved much more cunning then Gren had originally anticipated. As soon as Gren attempted to attack it, the Rexaur had turned around and slammed its tail into him, sending him flying through the air for the second time that day. This time there was no tree to stop him, instead Gren felt his body skid and bounce until finally he rolled to a stop. Getting up and feeling himself cough up some blood, Gren realized that he drew closer to his bodies edge. He looked at the Rexaur and stood on his feet, it was time for him to go all out. Even if it drained the rest of his energy, he would find some way to keep going. It was time for Gren to use his Limit Break, the attack which the past had granted him for the future, the Liberi Fatali.

Grasping both of his swords, Gren closed his eyes. He could feel the Rexaur charging at him, he could feel it drawing closer and closer. The tingle in the air, the force of the breeze, the scent of the wind, it all began to enshroud Gren as he started his Limit Break. He opened his eyes slowly to find the Rexaur almost to him, and uttered gently, "Liberi Fatali." As he spoke these words, the clouds overhead were parted by the wind, and falling from the sky was a bright light. Gren dropped both of his swords, and caught that bright beam. The beam slowly and gently faded into nothingness, and as it did so he seemed to be holding a sword that bent light. Its form was visible, but the sword itself was not, as if it were masked from the world. With a single swing, Gren's body was lifted into the air by the sword, and he collided with the Rexaur. As he did a brilliant flash shook the entire battlefield, knocking all the soldiers who were standing off of their feet. As it ended, Gren fell to his knees, breathing heavily. He had not been forced to use the Liberi Fatali in a very long time, since the attack drained so much from him. To wield the sword his Limit Break seemed to create took immense concentration and care, Gren suspected that the blade was not of this world in any way. How he had learned to call upon its power was his own secret, but he was sure that it was only meant for him.

All that was left now was the Marlboro, the deadliest of the creatures that were brought here for the battle. Gren knew he should have saved the Liberi Fatali for it, but had he not used it against the Rexaur he was likely going to sustain too many injuries to use the attack anyways. So he was now in a deadlock, and had no idea how to defeat the Marlboro, but he knew that he had to find a way somehow. If he didn't then the entire army was doomed, and Rufus would very likely win not only the battle, but also the war. If he held his breath, Gren could likely get to the Marlboro through its gas cloud, but he would have to slay it in one or two attacks in order to win and escape before he had to breath again, all the while avoiding its tentacles as well. He had no other plans, and didn't have the time to come up with more, and so Gren was going to take a gamble and try this.

Picking up his two swords once again, Gren began to run towards the green cloud which surrounded the Marlboro, killing all who tried to get within its range. He took a deep breath just before running into the cloud, and when he got to it he found the gases burned his eyes just a little. His eyes watering, making it harder for him to see, Gren continued plowing his way towards the monster. He had precious few moments to pull this off, and there was still nothing that even resembled a guarantee that he was going to win. The closer he got the more he felt the burning on his skin and in his eyes, realizing that he would have that burning in his lungs if he tried to breath. Getting to the creature, its tentacles began to lash out and whip Gren, the beating making it harder to focus. He slashed at the tentacles, trying to get them to move away, but to little avail. His sword chopped them, but the Marlboro didn't even seem to register the wounds, as if it didn't even feel the slightest bit of pain from them, and it simply continued to pummel Gren. Hard as he tried, Gren feared that he was going to fail, as he at last gave out and fell over, unable to hold his breath for any longer.

* * * * * * *

They had managed to ravage nearly the entire campus around the Administration building, and now Laguna and Rufus were finding themselves running out of weaponry. Laguna was down to his pistol, and his enemy appeared to be running low on ammo for his shotgun, the battle was likely going to drag on for quite a while more. He was impressed that the both of them seemed better than they were ten years ago, since he and Rufus had basically spent the last ten years sitting around teaching young men and women rather than fighting. He took a few shots at Rufus from behind his current area of cover, which was a billboard for the school with the announcements of the annual Blitzball tournament dates on it, but missed. At the moment Rufus was behind one of the larger chunks of debris on the battlefield, which had come when two of their grenades went off at once and blew a rather large section of the Biology building up. That was going to be expensive to repair.

"Is it just me, or is this beginning to grow old, Rufus?" Laguna asked, peeking out just a little from his cover to watch where his opponent was.

Rufus responded after waiting for a few moments, also looking out only a little to see Laguna, "Do you propose something else then?"

"I have three shots left, and I've been counting, you only have one!" Laguna took two bullets out of his gun and threw them away, "How about a quick draw match to finish this?"

Taking a minute to consider it, Rufus eventually answered Laguna, "Very well, I'll accept the terms." Rufus then walked out of his cover slowly, knowing for certain that Laguna would never do something like trick him, and Laguna was sure that Rufus saw this as the best possible way to end this quickly, rather than letting it turn into a fist fight. Also walking out slowly, Laguna kept his arm tense, in case Rufus decided to attack while they were out in the open, before a predestinated time. The two circled for a moment and then Rufus asked very calmly, "When do we draw?"

"High noon, the moment our shadows are perfectly below our feet," Laguna answered, which would be in about five minutes.

* * * * * * *

Eliza arrived at the battlefield just in time to see Gren running into the gas, and saw him and the Marlboro begin fighting. She looked over at Odin and gave him his instructions, "Save Gren, and then finish the battle for us!"

Odin nodded and began to run towards the cloud, lance in hand. Eliza hoped that he would get there in time to save Gren, because from what she could see it wasn't going especially well for her friend. Odin got to the Marlboro and was hit with its tentacles a few times before he drove his lance into the beast, making it cry out in agony as he tore through it viciously. Eliza was very relieved as she then watched Odin pick Gren up, as well as a few of the Moogles who were still just barely alive, and emerge from the green fog. Putting them down, the gas began to slowly dissipate, and the only evidence left of the monster was its corpse.

As Eliza ran up to Gren she proceeded to begin to shake him, checking to make sure he was alive first. After a few moments Gren came to and looked up at her, asking warily, "What happened?"

"Odin saved you," Eliza answered, "He's a friend of mine. You can relax now, he's going to finish all of this, everything will be fine. We've as good as won."

As she spoke, in the background the sounds of battle could be heard. Odin was plowing through massive numbers of the enemy as if they were nothing, defeating as many as ten soldiers at once with a single swing from his lance. Eliza hoped that he wasn't killing them, though she doubted he was, but at the same time she was mostly just relieved to have gotten here in time to save her friend. Although Ark was her companion in all things, as far as Eliza was concerned Gren had become one of her best friends. She couldn't imagine this place without getting to watch Ark and Gren bicker, nor would she be nearly as happy without that. It took Odin only a few moments to defeat the entire Shinra army, and that was when Seymour and Setzer stepped in.

"Quite an impressive companion, young Ms. Knight," Setzer said, shuffling a deck of playing cards as he spoke.

Seymour nodded in agreement before adding, "I'm afraid we have to destroy him, however." As Seymour said that, he raised his hands and cast an extremely powerful fire spell. Though Eliza had never seen a fire spell before, judging from who was casting it and what they were fighting, and what she had learned in her studies, she believed that Seymour was casting Firaga. The blaze surrounded Odin, the summon letting out a powerful battle cry as it began to run towards its opponents. As Odin attacked, Setzer cast Slowga on the summon, and then quickly cast Hastega on him and Seymour, thus giving Odin an amazing disadvantage in speed. Utilizing it, Seymour and Setzer then began a pattern of moving out of Odin's attack range, casting a spell, and then moving again. Odin at first didn't seem to even care, but after a while the attacks were obviously taking his strength away bit by bit. While the battle went, however, Quistis and her forces arrived, as well as the reinforcements from the Moogle Security Department. Laguna's side had gotten a second army now, and there was no chance for Seymour and Setzer. Seeing this, the two generals surrendered, and the battle was at last won.

* * * * * * *

Laguna and Rufus were the only part of the war still fighting, and the time was near for them to end it. Whoever it was that came out victorious here was the true winner of the war, regardless of how many victories there were in other places. Their eyes were once again locked, neither of them moving their muscles even a centimeter. The wind began to gently blow throughout the campus, blowing each combatants hair and swaying their coats, an elegant forming of movement to compliment the stillness of the two warriors. Of the two leaders. Time was not on their side, as high noon was only mere seconds away. The intensity was growing more and more, and Laguna could tell that he was sweating, he truly as nervous. Both of their lives were on the line, and that line had grown very thin.

The moment came, their shadows vanished, and Laguna and Rufus both raised their weapons in a fraction of an instant. As the two men fired the long and difficult battle at last came to its final conclusion. Laguna felt blood trickle down his arm from his shoulder, and fell to his knees, dropping his own gun as he looked towards Rufus. Finding a lot of surprise in his expression, and unable to understand why it was that Rufus didn't kill him, Laguna found himself having to say aloud, "You spared me…"

Walking towards Laguna, Rufus shook his head, "I could only get a few teachers and a student to help me. Their loyalty belongs to you, Laguna. Even if I win some war they will miss you. I simply did this to see if I could win or not."

Laguna smiled, and looked up at Rufus a bit, "Well, you've won. I thank you for sparing my life, and if you wish it you can now be the principal."

"That's your job," Rufus smirked, "But I do have to ask you something. All those years ago, what is it that you and Edea hid here?"

"Well, that is…" Laguna closed his eyes, smirked, and then opened them again before answering, "That is a secret."

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: This brings to a close the first storyline of Final Fantasy Saga. I hope you enjoyed it, because there's more on the way. Though very little actually happened in this plot arc, there were many key character introductions, which was the main purpose behind the Treason arc. To allow you to meet Ark, Gren and Eliza, whose fates will be weaved into a larger and larger storyline as we go. Also some key questions were introduced, the answers to which will be revealed as the various plot arcs go by, but some of which don't come until the final plot arc, the Summon Wars arc. What happened to Eliza's parents? How did Gren learn to use his Limit Break, the Liberi Fatali? What did Laguna and Edea hide under using the Administration building and the Clock Tower? Many things are yet to come in this tale of swords, sorcery, glory, and friendship. I hope you all enjoy what is to come in the future!

In this edition of the Author's Notes I'll be ranting on a little about the upcoming Final Fantasy X-2 for the PS2. Many people are weary of this game, and with good reason I'd like to say. However, from what little I know, the game is definitely more than just an attempt to give us Final Fantasy fan boys a bit of fan service. So I'd like to simply ask everyone, including the female Final Fantasy fans, to give the game a bloody chance! I'm not just saying this as a fan, but also as a believer that Squaresoft still has some amazing games up its sleeve!

Anyways, next up is the Shiva arc, the second major storyline of Final Fantasy Saga. Look forward to it starting in Final Fantasy Saga Chapter 7: Rivalry Olympics!