Chapter One :: Call to Arms

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Reese's warning tone told Hadrian that he wasn't going to make him talk through barbaric ways.

He knew what happened.

Though the urge to interrogate the guy till he turns blue was polluting his head, Hadrian decided to refrain from it. He knew a better way to do this. It was then he noticed Stella was out of the conference and was coming up to them. And what nice timing, she pulled Reese away before he could have a chance to retort.

Great timing... Hadrian looked down to scratch his cheek.

Walking around the two, Hadrian stopped in front of them. "You want my apology? You got it. I'll apologize then." He told Reese, his eyebrows coming together. "I just want to know what DoTNA did to the scientists in Esthar."

He made a mental note to himself not to fly off the handle at what Reese would answer.

[Stella]

She stepped forward calmly standing next to Reese and staring up at Hadrian with a cool gaze. All though she hadn't heard the entire conversation this was a question she could answer.

"Captives taken by the DotNA are sometimes used for experimentation or put to work in one of their many facilities across the world. If for some reason a captive is not seen fit for use they are executed. I imagine the scientists in Esthar were treated the same way the rest of their captives are" Stella answered making eye contact with Hadrian as she spoke.

"If you think someone you know was taken but them its highly likely they are dead" She sighed and shook her head.

[Lawric]

Lawric encased Van with his arms, frowning a little while she sobbed into his chest. He had no idea his behavior would have this strong of an effect on her. It made him feel worse than he already felt about the whole mess. He patted her back gently. "Hey, Ness... "

He looked upward when he saw the advancing figure of Jaime. The tears threatening to spill from her eyelids and the pout set on her lips brought on another wave of guilt. "I am stupid." She wiped a hand across her face, and he felt like he'd just been kicked in the chest.

"No, Jaime," He said firmly. "You're not stupid. I didn't mean that, okay?" He pulled one arm away from his embrace with Van and took hold of one of Jaime's hands. He met eyes with her. "I'm sorry I blew up at you." He turned his head downward, trying to meet Van's eyes. "Did you hear that, too? I'm really sorry.

"C'mon," He used the arm he still had around Vanesse to pull her up with him when he stood, and helped her steady herself on her feet. "We don't have to throw out the idea just because of me. I just don't want to feel like I don't have a voice here. Listen to me. This is a serious decision." He glanced at Jaime. "It's not something you jump into after five minutes of thought. Can we discuss this?"

[junkuroki]

Jaime bit on her lip when Lawric took her hand and told her she wasn't stupid. She sniffed and blinked rapidly wiping at her eyes again. She had no idea how that 'stupid' had affected her. But it didn't matter now. Lawric wasn't going to leave and the danger of their little group disintegrating was over. The relief was overwhelming her enough to send another emotional wave but she didn't want to become a crybaby and make anyone feel bad.

She nodded with a small smile when Lawric suggested a discussion.

"Deo." She called out and waved to their friend standing alone a little distance away. "Come over we're gonna have a meeting." She turned back to face Lawric and Van. "We can go back to our place and discuss if you guys want..." She trailed off. Now that she had cooled down, she couldn't help noticing a few looks thrown their way by the SeeDs outside the conference room. None of which were friendly. "This doesn't look like a very nice place for that..."

[Lawric]

Lawric nodded. "I agree."

He took a glance at the conference room door. Jun still hadn't left yet. Well... Actually, on second though, she very well could have. After all, it wasn't as if he would have noticed amidst the big angry hissy fit he had been too busy throwing. He glanced back at his friends.

"I'll meet you guys at the Behemoth in five... ?" he said distractedly. "I'd like to hang around for a sec. I need to talk to Jun before leaving."

---

"the Behemoth" = their big hummer-like vehicle... idk if I just made this up, but I seem to recall them having a vehicle like this because Deo was working on it once or something? XD

[junkuroki]

The room was silent, awkwardly silent after Seifer's rant. The aftermath of his words hung in the air and for a while Jun thought the rest had been shocked or intimidated into some kind frozen state.

But she felt the need to speak up for those who left. If nothing but to leave a more "favourable" impression on her superiors so that they could have a larger chance of getting accepted back to the mission in case they did decide to return the following morning.

"Sir." She said, addressing Almasy and looking at him directly. "You are undoubtedly right. Elite SeeDs should have been trained to accept their orders without question. And to adopt a seriousness in their mission more than any other SeeD. But those three that left, Lawric, Jaime, and Diego are not trianed SeeDs. I requested that they should be given a little time to sort out their...misunderstandings for precisely this reason. As for Hadrian D'arcell...I would like to think that he has some reason for his behaviour. A valid reason. But I have faith he would still turn up for the mission." She decided that on the event Hadrian didn't turn up, she would definitely give him a piece of her mind. No one should make her eat her words.

Several bombastic pieces...she promised herself.

Jun left her seat and walked up to the Headmaster.

"Headmaster, if possible I would like to request five gas masks, one for each of the Dollet Tower team. They would be a vital part of the evacuation plan." She saluted him and Almasy, turning to leave the room.

When she emerged on the door, she could see the Opps converging near the couch in the lobby. Apparently their disputes had been settled as they were no longer arguing with each other.

A smile settled on her face.

At least they haven't been jinxed into seperation yet...

--

Ahh crappy post. I might edit it later >.< And I hope she's not rude by exiting before Squall's reply >__<

[Diego Stanton]

Oh no... now it had become a cryfest. Deo pretended to be particularly interested in a crack on the ceiling while Vanesse did her thing. He wasn't going anywhere near that hazardous area of emotions.

He recalled that one time she had tried to save a baby bird with broken wings that ended up dying. She had cried for days and as much as Deo had tried to avoid her, she'd always end up clinging to his arms while he layed on the couch and she'd end up crying herself to sleep. Deo would always slowly release his arm from her grasp and replace it with a sack of potatoes for an hour or so, then return and put his arm back just as Van would wake up.

He had a hard time keeping a straight face when Van was helping Jaime cook some mashed potatoes one day and she had commented on how the sack of potatoes felt like she was hugging Deo. When all the potatoes were used up, Deo decided to use the empty sack as a place to put his explosives in. Now he carried that sack with him everywhere.

Deo smiled and untied the sack from the side of his belt and slung it over his shoulders. It was so heavy now with all of the new stuff Seifer had given him that it was making his pants fall down, and that wasn't a good thing.

"Deo." Jaime called out, "Come over we're gonna have a meeting."

Deo's right eye twitched slightly. He hated meetings.

"Yeah... coming," he replied as Blaze bursted out of the conference room with horribly tussled hair.

"WHERE'S ZACKE???!" she screeched, before bolting down the stairs.

[Zacke]

Zacke stared at the elevator doors in front of him, still whistling the Chocobo song while he tried to decide how many meals he was going to order from room service. One should be enough, really, but if Leonhart was covering the tab...

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Just as his first foot passed over the threshold and touched the marble lobby floor he heard a horrible and very familiar sound...

"WHERE'S ZACKE???!"

His whistling ceased immediately. He could hear the thumping of her boots coming downstairs, gradually getting louder and louder... Crap. She's on a rampage. He moved his foot back inside the elevator quickly and frantically mashed on the "^" button. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon... ! The mouth of the staircase was located directly across the lobby from the elevator. If she got to the bottom of the stairs before his elevator doors shut, he would be dead center in her line of vision...

Why did you mess with her hair?! WHY?! he cursed himself.

Accepting the fact that the doors weren't going to shut in time, he pressed himself as flat as he could against the side of the elevator and tried to hold his breath, hoping he was out of sight, hoping she wouldn't come inside...

/How many more episodes of 'Zacke gets abused by a girl he annoyed.' are you going to make me watch?/

He closed his eyes. Don't look in the elevator...

[Reese]

Reese's eyebrows raised a bit at Hadrian's composed apology. It was honestly more than he expected from this guy, and he was slightly impressed. He hesitated to answer, thought, and Stella intervened the question with an answer of her own.

He glanced at her as she spoke, finding her response interesting. She was right, of course. Many people who found themselves in the custody of DotNA also found themselves short-lived. Still...

"That's true, but in this particular case, I think the person is alive." He said to Stella. "I don't see why she wouldn't be, anyway." He then turned to Hadrian. "This is something I would prefer to discuss privately. It seems like you don't know anything about the situation, and trust me, here in the lobby is not really the place to go into explanations. Give me ten minutes with Stella, and then maybe you and I can move to a room or something? Actually, now that I think about it, I might have a question for you, too."

With that said, he turned back to Stella. "What did you need to talk about?"

[Stella]

When Reese said that who ever they were talking about was still alive Stella felt suddenly and immensely sorry for her. Something inside of her switched off and the sudden change in her emotions was probably fairly obvious to the two boys standing near by. She tried to shrug it off looking up at Reese but avoiding his intense gaze.

Her concerns all seemed a little stupid now. She could talk to him later... if at all. He and Hadrian obviously had some serious things to discuss. Suddenly she felt a bit like an ass for interrupting in the first place. Her emotions were threatening to boil over and it was far past time for her to exit, stage left.

"Actually don't worry about it," she said giving Reese a small smile. She tried to make it happy but she could feel that it just came off as sad. It seemed like she was in danger of becoming a mess right here and now. Get it together, Stella.

"You two should go talk" Stella reached over and gaze Hadrian's shoulder a reassuring rub. She just knew he was in for some very bad news whatever it was. They had all lost so much now that Balamb had been destroyed, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to discover some one you knew was a captive of DotNa.

"I'll catch you tomorrow on the airship" She nodded at Reese before turning away and heading for the doors of the lobby. It was time she get some fresh air.

[Lawric]

When he caught sight of Jun leaving the conference room, Lawric gave the sniffling Vanesse a quick reassuring rub and pat on the back before moving away from the group and crossing the lobby.

"Jun," He said her name to catch her attention as he approached. As he came within three feet of her he felt himself grow significantly less comfortable with this entire situation. Because of all this, he felt that there was now some kind of barrier between them. It had definitely reminded him of their striking differences, which were easy to forget in the midst of mundane civilian life. Her degree of self-discipline and emotional strength made him feel utterly ridiculous in comparison. He cleared his throat and tried to meet her eyes. "I'm going to with my friends back to our place so we can talk about all this. I don't think any of us are bailing on the mission, we just -- I just wanted to talk about some things first."

He paused, warily watching for a negative reaction. "I guess I would like to talk to you, too," he added. "Before tomorrow, I mean. Before the mission." He halted there, a little uneasy about what he was suggesting. "Later tonight, maybe? I can... take you out? Or meet you at your room? Would you be alright with that?"

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Aww Stella:(
-----------------------------


The side of Hadrian's mouth quirked. A SeeD and a former-DoTNA had just combined forces in order to enlighten him. However, he didn't think it was pure BS this time. How in the world did Stella even come to that assumption?

"I don't see why she wouldn't be, anyway."

She? Talking about my mom again. What Reese had said about Maricella D'arcell might not be a lie afterall.

"This is something I would prefer to discuss privately......Give me ten minutes with Stella........Actually......I think about it........question for you, too."

He looked down on the ground and tried to think things through. Unlike Reese, he could care less in keeping this matter private. He felt like pursuing this interrogation further, while waiting in line like a good boy, seemed ridiculous now that it came to this. Words wouldn't quell his agitation about this issue.

Forget this-- He was about to leave Reese and Stella alone when he felt someone touch him on the shoulder. He was weirded out at the gentleness of the touch and it got worse when he caught a glimpse of Stella's face as she passed by. His eyes followed the lady as she made her way towards the front glass door. He was used to Stella's sarcastic ways that this was alien to him.

And her face. It was like it was saying, "I feel for you, bastard..."

Or something like that... He thought with a blank face. What's up with her?

He slipped a glance towards the guy in front of him and paused.

"When you said she's working at the lab, you meant the DoTNA laboratory beneath Timber, am I right?" Hadrian asked. He wanted to confirm.

[Reese]

Stella's little smile caught Reese slightly off guard, as did her friendly pat on Hadrian's shoulder. He watched her with mild curiosity, wondering at why she had suddenly become so disinterested in talking to him, when she had obviously been very interested in it just a moment ago. "I'll catch you tomorrow on the airship" She turned away from them and began walking across the lobby toward the hotel entrance doors. Reese watched her leave for a second, before Hadrian's question pulled away his attention.

"Yeah, the lab at Headquarters." He replied shortly. "And if you really want to know everything I know, then fine. I'll tell you right here in the middle of the lobby, and I'll try to make it short. But don't blame me for making a public display of your personal business, because I tried not to."

He paused and sighed, before launching into what was obviously to be a rather lengthy story.

"I wasn't part of the capture that took place at the Lunar Base, so I can't really give you much info there. But I do know that most of the scientists who were taken that day were put to work in the DotNA HQ lab, and I know for a fact that Maricella D'Arcell is one of them. She's been down there as far back as I can remember, and I joined DotNA at seventeen. From what I've heard, she's an extremely smart lady. Hailed as a genius. She's had some work in almost every successful project, and the name D'Arcell is big in the organization because of that." He paused, finding himself very uncomfortable with this whole conversation. "It doesn't seem like you want to believe anything I'm saying. I guess that's understandable. Maybe this mission will give you a chance to see for yourself. Sorry I brought it up, man. Thought you already knew."

He gave a slight shrug before stepping backward and turning away, crossing the lobby in strides. Stella Artos. She had obviously given up her chance at getting some questions answered, which normally would have been entirely okay with Reese -- one less person to talk to, right? But this particular situation was different, because she might have questions related to the mission, and she was on his team. His team had to do well. He had to do well, for Leonhart and Almasy. My team will be prepared. He definitely wanted any questions asked and answered now, not mid-mission under a rain of bullets.

He pushed one of the glass doors open and emerged into the chilly night, glancing around for any sign of her.

[Stella]

Stella stepped out into the night and took a few steps planning on putting some distance between herself and this place. Automatically her body turned her towards where Garden used to be stationed but then she stopped abruptly. The Garden was gone. She couldn't go running back to her safe haven there. Her home was gone.

Sighing she headed turned back around looking up at the hotel. Everything right now was such a mess, herself included. With no place else to go she just sunk down on one of the many benches lining the walk to the hotel.

Stella stared out at the sea watching the waves as they crashed into shore. She pulled out one of her guns the cool metal in her hand some how comforting her. With practiced ease she twirled it around her fingers watching the moon glint off of it.

The hotel door opened and her head snapped up. She was sort of expecting Rayden but instead it was Reese that came out of them. She frowned a little. He couldn't possibly be looking for her could he?

"Hey" Stella said softly her gaze going back to the moving gun in her fingers.

[Reese]

Reese's eyes followed the direction of the female voice, and once he caught sight of her, he hesitated and inwardly questioned his decision to come out here in the first place. She looked as if she just wanted to be alone, and he would actually be content to mind his own business if that was the case. He didn't have any particular interest in whatever emotional woes she was enduring, and he definitely didn't want to ask about them and become wrapped up in another personal discussion. His brief exchange with Hadrian had been more than enough 'personal' for one night.

Still, if she wasn't sure about something, he needed to find out now.

"Hey," He answered, moving over toward the bench. "I don't want to bother you or anything. But you're on my team, and considering the girls who are with us, it looks like you'll be my main battle support." He came around and crossed in front of her, taking a seat at the opposite end of the bench.

"So you want me to answer those questions, or leave you alone? It's your call."