Chapter 6: Road to the Evil Sorceress I

[stardust]

It was like she jumped into a pool of blood. Stardust growled at the stench of the fluid all over. It was as if almost all of the blood were splashed directly to where she was standing! The heart had exploded, and at that instant, the normal appearance of Balamb Garden returned as fast as dominoes toppling over each other. They were back in Squall's spacious office with the moon litting it from the outside through the hole Sapphire made earlier.

"Sick!" Zell got up and wagged his hand, blood splatting on the ground.

Commander Leonhart, who was in no different condition than they were got up and picked up the Trinity Sword. "Trinity sword retrieval, completed," he said. "It looked like the heart is the source of all this chaos." He glanced at the girls, particularly Polaris and Gemma. "Did Weiss mention anything about the heart? If there is, I'd like to hear it."

Stardust wondered why the commander felt the need to ask that when he could interrogate Weiss later on about it. More importantly, she wasn't feeling good with all of these injuries. A part of her wished for them to recuperate now, but she still wanted to play the "tough girl" act.

[Lil]

"UGH." Jun stared at her pulp-covered arm in disgust, forcing the urge to hurl as deep down as she possibly could. Her hand had gotten coated by the big mess after the heart exploded as she had not reacted fast enough to retrieve it after casting her Ultima. "Not only the heart has to torment us while it's beating, it's being a nuisance when it's dead as well!" She mutters trying the shake most of the fleshy-looking bits off, but they seemed rather stubborn in staying put onto her skin.

"At least we're still alive. And the flesh isn't poisonous. Thank Hyne for small miracles." Jaime quipped. "Anyone needs healing? I've got Curaga here if you guys need it."

[vanesse]

"Me too. I have Curaga." Vanesse added faintly, looking around the people in the room. Her hair and clothing were caked with blood, and she felt like she had puked in her mouth.

"The only person who needed it the most is the one who doesn't deserve it." Stardust replied, clutching her side. Vanesse knew who she was talking about. She frowned.

The tense atmosphere was broken when Squall's cellphone rang. Picking it up, everyone in the still room heard Selphie Tilmitt's voice.

"Hello, Sq--Commander Leonhart?! Where are you? What's your status? You did acquire the sword, am I right??" the other line said.

"Calm down. Yes, we do have it. We've secured Weiss Jong and the heart, which is causing the abnormal transformation of Gardenm is obliterated. The second floor elevator isn't working so it would be impossible to meet in our target meeting place--the B1, same thing for the lobby...or would it?" Squall became quiet to think about something. "More importantly, what's your sta--" Selphie's loud voice cut him.

"You're the commander, figure it out. Odendria is dead and it looks like everything returned to normal here also. We'll all be waiting down the first floor lobby to regroup. Please hurry!" With that, she hung up.

"Well..." Irvine squeezed his cowboy hat to rid off the blood. "It looks like you don't have to relay to us what she told you."

Vanesse swallowed. "You're right about the elevator...Isn't there any other route we can take to reach the first floor?"