Chapter One :: Call to Arms

[ST]

"As I said, you will be equipped with everything you need." Squall replied. "I would suggest first discussing this with D'Arcell; perhaps the two of you can compile a list? I will be up all night, but I'll be working on various things within the hotel and city, so you won't be able to meet with me. You may leave your list with the receptionist at the front desk. She is instructed to contact Almasy or I, and one of us will personally arrange for everything to be ready and waiting on the airship tomorrow morning."

[Zacke]

Zacke came out of the conference room, hands in pockets and whistling the Chocobo song. His happy tune took a downward note, however, when he noticed the tall guy striding away from the happy blonde and the guy who knew a hell of a lot about bombs, looking all pissed off and stuff.

Dramaaa... he thought, quickly picking up his whistling again and nonchalantly looking away from the scene, feeling a little awkward about it. They were going all out right in the lobby.

He looked in the other direction and spotted Hadrian and Reese in what looked like a pretty serious conversation. Hah. The freaks are congregating. He looked away, barely able to contain his smirk. Now all they need is Stardust to make their club complete. ALL OUR POWERS COMBINED...! --

/Zacke./

Haha. Hah. What?

/No./

He snickered to himself anyway. Iris just had no sense of humor. He stepped up to the elevator and mashed the button two or three times, anxious for a good night of sleep.

[Reese]

He doesn't know... ?

Reese had the strong urge to sigh. The look on Hadrian's face told him he shouldn't have even started this conversation. He just assumed Hadrian already knew about his mom and what she was up to. Bad assumption, because he obviously didn't. Now he'd probably entangled himself in some stupid domestic melodrama he wanted nothing to do with.

"I was in DotNA." Reese answered with a shrug. "You already know that."

The look on Hadrian's face told him the answer wasn't going to be enough. Fuck. He really wanted nothing to do with this. He glanced over the hacker's shoulder. Even though they were distanced from most of the others, people were starting to leave the conference room, and the lobby was becoming more and more populated. He looked back at Hadrian.

"Look, I didn't personally know her. I just know who she is and what she does by association." he added, lowering his tone a little. It still wasn't going to be enough. He let out an impatient sigh and continued, "She works in the lab, and I worked in infiltration and the upper ranks. Different units. It's not like we had daily interaction. I probably don't have the answers you want." He turned and started to move away, anxious to be rid of this whole matter.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Standing there, listening to Reese, Hadrian thought what he was hearing was incredibly nonsensical. It was like he was describing a different person altogether. How many gysahl greens did his parents smoke to be able to work under DoTNA? Bull. There's no way in hell. Who would buy that?

"Working in the lab, huh?" Hadrian repeated, watching Reese move away. "That's a cool story. All right, now let's move on, don't tell me you'll just walk away after randomly spitting something about 'Maricella D'arcell'." His frown deepened. "Answer me honestly. I'm asking you properly."

[Lawric]

'I won't too.'

Van standing at the door with her arms spread brought Lawric to a slow halt in his tracks, and her pleading eyes froze him where he stood. He stared back at her with a mixture of emotions behind his eyes. "Are you gonna leave us again?" She stared back at him, and he could tell she was bracing herself -- trying to keep from getting emotional. Ness... "You can't do that. I won't let you! Please don't leave. Please?"

He shifted his stance, feeling suspended and lost. He didn't want to leave them. He never wanted to leave them. He just wanted out -- somewhere, anywhere but here, and just for a few hours. Just for the night, maybe. But he would have come back in the morning... wouldn't he? The fact that he had to question himself sent another pang of guilt through him. Of course I would have come back. He told himself. But honestly -- in the raw type of honesty he was too weak to admit even in his thoughts... He didn't know what he would have done once he passed through that door.

Looking down at the girl resolutely barring his path, he felt the past fifteen minutes of his life rushing against him in cold waves of shame and regret. Everything he had said to Jaime, about being stupid, about not caring... how he had just walked away from her and Diego both. It was as if little Vanesse had taken his thunderous rolling boulder of anger and frustration and singlehandedly knocked it off it's course, pushing it aside. She didn't want to force him into anything or make him feel selfish for his opinion. She wasn't judging him or arguing with him. She just wanted him not to leave. She wanted them to stick together.

It's what he wanted, too. It was in fact the source of this entire issue. He wasn't just worried about himself. Not nearly as much as he was about all of them as a whole. What really scared him to think about was what he would do if one of them were to die. What would things be like, then? What effect would that have on him?

"I won't leave." he said. He walked over to the nearest lobby couch and collapsed into it with a defeated sigh. "But -- and this obviously goes without saying -- I am losing it. This is seriously overwhelming."

[Stella]

Stella stood leaning agaisnt the wall watching the events unfold before her. She was simply aghast when people started storming out of the room. Since when did SeeD get to pick and chose their missions? Of course it was going to be dangerous that came with the territory. She waited until Squall was done talking to Gemma and then pushed herself off the wall taking a few steps forward.

"I, for one, am honored to be chosen for this mission Commanders. I'll do everything I can to make sure my part of the mission succeeds" Stella paused considering apologizing for the outbursts of her team and the decided agaisnt it. If they wanted to ruin their careers then so be it.

"Since it looks like the Civilians are opting out of this mission sir perhaps I should be equipped with the communications head gear when we head into the compound" She stated.

[Reese]

Reese turned to face Hadrian again.

"Okay, this is starting to get on my nerves." He crossed his arms, widening his stance and staring at Hadrian with a look on his face that clearly expressed is waning patience.

"What exactly do you want me to say?"

[vanesse]

Vanesse's wary face slowly brightened into a relieved smile when Lawric swerved towards the couch and grunted. It looked like the situation wasn't as grave as she thought now that she was looking at him like that.

/Maybe it was just you overreacting./

But even so. She bit her lip, feeling ready to cry from relief.

"L...Law..." Her lips became shaky and her eyesight got blurry. She followed Lawric towards the couch. Oh crap... Tears flowed despite her effort of holding it back. She sniffed and bit her thumb. She looked like someone who had just came out of a movie theater after watching a tragic love story.

Exhaling, she wailed. "L-Laaaawwwrrrriiiiiicccc!!" She threw herself at him and embraced him like a teddy bear. "I thought you really were going to leave!! I was ready to use force and go all out cuz you looked like you're serious and all and >hich<. Thank goodness! Thank Hyne!! Thank Bunsanshiba!" She wailed some more and wasn't about to let go anytime soon.

/Hey! Cut it out already./ Paridge scolded her. /And who's that last god you just called??/

[Hadrian D'arcell]

"What did DoTNA do to the former Lunar scientists they captured in Esthar?" Hadrian suddenly asked right after Reese's question.

[jaimelewis]

Jaime looked away from Deo the moment Van came running out from the conference room. She was ready to call out at her friend when she ran past them and straight at Lawric, stopping him from leaving.

Jaime looked down guiltily. She had been all righteous and defensive about her own motives for joining the SeeD misson. And even felt a little triumphant when Deo joined her side. Now that she thought of it after cooling down, it was even selfish in a kind of way, at least she was selfish in not standing on Law's side and understand why he did not want to jump in like she did. It was all "wah wah wah he misunderstood me." It was Van, talking about them staying together, actually stopping Lawric from leaving, that knocked some sense in her mind.

If Van hadn't been here to stop Lawric, she could not imagine what to do if Lawric had just walked away like that.

She cast a glance at Deo and ran towards the couch.

"Law, I'm sorry." She said in a soft meek voice looking down at him, tears rolling in her eyes. "If you don't want to go we all won't go. Nothing is more important than us being together. I realise now." She wiped a hand across her face. "I am stupid."

[ST]

"I suppose you're right." Squall answered Stella. "I'll turn over the communications responsibility to you. If Lewis changes her mind and we see her tomorrow morning, you can either keep the headset or return the duty to her. It's up to you now."

[Stella]

"Thank you Commander" Stella said with a respectful nod. Not looking at anyone she moved and slipped out the door into the hallway. Various members of the Trinity team were hanging about and it looked like there was a ton of drama going on.

She sighed heavily. A part of her wanted to help but she felt that she didn't know these people well enough. Ever since Squall announced what they were going to be doing half of them seemed like they were falling apart. She spotted Coma boy across the lobby and strode over there tossing her hair over her shoulder. Glancing at Hady she considered for a moment that the two of them might be in a conversation but didn't really care.

"Hey Reese, can I talk to you for a sec?" she said softly.

[stardust]

Stardust stood up from her seat. There was just something very wrong in this whole picture. Deo and Hadrian had BOTH left their posts, and Squall was still talking like the mission was still going to proceed. What would they do tomorrow, then? She wanted a proper reevaluation.

"Hold on, Commander!" Stella's departure was the last straw. "You seem to be forgetting that we have just lost Deo and Hadrian in our operation. If we don't reevaluate now, what will happen to the operation tomorrow?"

/Oooh, so concerned with the mission./ Diwata playfully commented.

[Reese]

Reese's eyebrows came together. He didn't appreciate the abrupt and almost interruptive way in which Hadrian posed that question, or the accusatory stare that went with it.

This is ridiculous.

"Look," He started, his tone taking on a hard edge. "You respect me, and I'll respect you. Understood? You're not entitled to my knowledge just because you're SeeD. Drop the attitude and take a more pleasant tone, or--"

"Hey Reese, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Reese turned at the sound of a female voice. Stella. He recognized her. She was pretty much the only person at the ball who had spoken to him; besides the people he already knew. He didn't remember much more than that about her, though.

"Sure," he replied without much thought, eager to escape the his current situation. He looked back at Hadrian. "I'm sure this can wait. You obviously need more than five minutes of my time, and I'm not in the mood to give that much right now." He turned to move away with Stella.

[Storyteller]

"Thank you for the concern about the mission, SeeD Infinity. At least you are interested in doing your duty" Seifer spoke up at last. He wasobviously brimming with anger every bit of it showing in the lines of his stance. Unlike Squall he was not cool and passive but instead barely contained rage.

"The reason we chose all of you for the mission is because you killed Adel. That means your good and you have no idea how it pains me to admit that. However there are plenty of other SeeDs that would be more then willing to jump into the mission" he sneers as he speaks shaking his head. His disdain for the people that stormed out is evident on his face as he glances down at the map still spread on the table.

"We will find suitable replacements for your team members that have chosen to bail out of this mission. They will meet you at the airship first thing tomorrow morning. If any of your team members decide to change their mind it will be at our discretion whether or not we will allow them back on this mission" He nods staring into Stardusts eyes.

"This is the kind of behavior we expect from cadets not accomplished decorated SeeD. Especially not the team that managed to kill Adel" He grabs the map up off the table and shoves it on of the portfolio on the table as he around the room as if daring the remaining people to ask any more questions.