The flight to Timber was relatively uneventful. Lila staid a good distance away from Ari, who regarded the petite brunette with solemn curiosity. The only major disruption occurred when Ari let down her hair to refasten it more securely. Rinoa covered her eyes and screeched, causing everyone to stand immediately, weapons drawn and at the ready. Ari’s own gray eyes were wide as Rinoa stopped screaming and pointed at her.
“PINK?”
Ari frowned, before realization struck her, and she grinned, running a hand through her shoulder-length flamingo pink hair. “Yeah, got sick of my old color.”
“What the hell is the screaming all about?” Seifer charged through the door, Hyperion in hand as he glared around the room. His eyes settled on Ari, taking in the pink hair, before he muttered a curse and went back to the cockpit. Blushing sheepishly, Rinoa murmured something about being blinded for a moment and she too left the cabin.
Confused, Ari looked at Quistis for answers. Quistis’ shoulders were shaking and her blue eyes were sparkling with unconcealed laughter. She fastened Save the Queen to her belt and sat down, folding her arms. “She hasn’t seen you with your hair down,” Quistis explained, as Ari twisted her hair on top of her head and secured it with a clip. “And it just looks red when it’s up.”
“Oh,” Ari replied, but she frowned and shook her head, giving up the idea of ever understanding these SeeDs.
Selphie’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Approaching Timber! Secure for landing! BOOYAKA!” Immediately, everyone went to their seats and fastened their seatbelts. Lex grinned at the baffled Ari, before advising that she too put on her seatbelt. No sooner had she complied but Ragnarok tilted downward, sending everyone’s stomachs lurching and the ship ground to a halt. “Landed!”
Quistis muttered,”I never get used to her piloting,” before exiting the Ragnarok.
The group surveyed the entrance to Timber, before they all looked to Squall. He pushed Ari to the forefront, who looked around, squared her shoulders, and entered the town.
* * *
“There’s nothing down there,” Selphie stepped outside of the weapons shop, brushing dust off her yellow jumpsuit. “Just a bunch of dust and old equipment.”
Irvine came up behind her, pushing up the brim of his hat. “It doesn’t even look like the stairs have been used in awhile.” He fingered Exeter, glanced at the darkening skies, and then shot a look at the pink- haired girl standing nearby.
“I don’t understand,” Ari murmured. “I know it happened.” Lila said nothing, slouching against the stone siding of the building next door.
Zell appeared around the corner, frowning slightly, and immediately, Lila straightened and smoothed her hair. “Have you all seen Lex? We lost each other in the dark.” He held up the flashlight. “Batteries ran out.”
The cowboy shook his head. “Haven’t seen your lady,” he drawled.
“She’s probably looking at a couple of those books down there. Bunch of books Garden doesn’t have,” Zell said thoughtfully.
“Without a light?” Selphie asked. “Should we look for her? Squall told us to stay with our partners…”
“Nah, I’m sure she’s fine. She’s killer with that staff.” But Zell turned away anyway. “I’ll look for her, no problem. She’s my lady, after all!” With a cocky grin and a thumbs-up sign, he went back around the corner. Lila watched him go longingly, before turning back and catching Ari’s knowing gaze. She flushed and looked away.
“It’s not like Lex just to disappear,” Irvine murmured. “She sticks to Zell like glue. Lucky Zell.” He caught Selphie’s green glare and chuckled lazily, wrapping an arm around her. “Not as lucky as me though.”
Appeased, Selphie scampered up to Lila who held the walkie-talkie. “Any word from Squall or Seifer?”
“From Squall,” the young sorceress answered. “He and Rinoa are coming back up. They didn’t find a thing, no trace of anything having been down there for months.”
“Nothing from Quistis and Seifer?” the sprightly brunette asked.
Lila shook her head.
“I suppose I shouldn’t be worried,” Selphie muttered. “Those two take pretty decent care of themselves. They’re just so emotionally attached to it…”
“Don’t worry about it until we have to,” Irvine told her. “C’mon,” he gestured to the other girls. “Squall said to meet in the street.”
Squall and Rinoa were there waiting already. At Squall’s questioning glance, Irvine shook his head. Nothing.
“Maybe Seifer was right,” Rinoa glanced at Ari, eyes traveling to the hot pink hair and back to the other SeeDs. “Maybe she IS insane.”
“Sure seems like it,” the cowboy agreed. The mic on Lila’s belt crackled and she grabbed it, meeting Rinoa’s dark eyes as she spoke.
“Lila.”
“There isn’t a single trace of ANY damn thing down here!” Seifer’s voice carried through the suddenly windy streets, and Lila hunched her shoulders. “The girl’s a nutcase!” Ari glared at the walkie-talkie, before turning and stalking away to lean against the side of the weapons shop.
“Seifer…” Lila scolded.
“Yeah, yeah! We’re on our way!” he spat. True to his word, the two blondes appeared in the street some five minutes later. Seifer stalked towards them and Quistis was rolling her eyes in amusement behind him. “Who are we waiting on?” he demanded. “I want to get the hell out of here! No good can come of being here!”
“Zell and Lex,” Quistis responded before he’d finished his sentence and he glared green daggers at her. She in turn winked at him.
Zell chose that moment to appear, sky blue eyes shooting wary glances at the cloudy blackened sky. He ran up to them. “Has anyone seen Lex? I’m really worried! She hasn’t answered me at all!”
Everyone shook their heads “no”.
“It’s not like her!” Zell insisted. “She hates being alone in the dark!” Unconsciously his voice rose as the wind picked up to a howl. The group traded worried looks as lightning streaked across the sky. Trash blew through the streets at an incredible rate, and the mercenaries covered their ears to block the shriek of the wind. Zell stumbled as something hit him from behind, and immediately he turned, ready in a fighting stance.
But it was Ari, backing up slowly, an expression of keen horror on her face as the wind whipped her pink hair out of its twist.
“Ari?” Lila questioned, raising her voice above the howl of the wind. No response. She followed Ari’s gaze and the mic clattered to the ground, her hands coming to her face as her mouth opened in a voiceless scream. She fell to her knees.
Just as abruptly as it had started, the wind stopped. All that was heard was the CREAK! of strained wood. The group stared quizzically at Lila and Air, and Lila slowly raised a hand, pointing toward something. As one, they followed her finger.
There was a loud scream from Rinoa, echoed seconds later by Selphie, and Quistis’ eyes widened before she hid her face in Seifer’s coat, shoulders shaking. Squall, Irvine, and Seifer stared in absolute horror. But Zell had turned white.
It was Lex. Despite the blood covered face and the limp undone hair, there was no mistaking the slender body of the librarian girl. She hung from a piece of wood that once held a sign, her head turned almost completely around from her body, a wooden stake buried deep in her chest. Her dark eyes were sightless and her mouth, partly open, had blood leaking from it. The blood fell to the sidewalk, and in the terrible unnatural silence, the drip, drip, drip of it hitting the pavement echoed around them.
“No,” Zell whispered, blue eyes wide in his ghostly pale face. He ran towards the dangling body, jumping up to cut her down, but the body disappeared into thin air, the only clue to it having been there being the blood spots on the ground. In disbelief, Zell landed on his knees among the blood, seeming to stare through the pavement. “Lex…” His sky blue eyes glistened with unshed tears, and abruptly he wrapped his arms around himself and sobbed, loud soul-wrenching cries. “NOOOOOO!” he yelled at the clouded sky. “NO NO NO NO!” He rocked back and forth, tears creating dark spots around and among the red ones already there.
Tears streamed from the eyes of the girls, and Irvine blinked his back, lowering his hat over them. Squall gazed at Zell in sorrow, eyes reflecting nothing but pain. But it was Seifer who went over to the wracked body of the martial artist. Too weak emotionally to put up a fight, Zell let Seifer pick him up and carry him back to the others. “To the Ragnarok,” Seifer said in a low voice. No one spoke, but the silence was deafening.
Once aboard the red spaceship, Seifer left Zell in the care of the girls, who took turns stroking his hair and crying their own tears. He went to Squall who was piloting the ship in Selphie’s absence, and dropped to his knees beside the Commander.
“Squall,” he told him, green eyes filled with pain and anger. “Those blood spots…they spelled something.”
Squall turned to look at him.
“They spelled ‘Beware’.”
And Ragnarok took off.
An evil laugh echoed through the compound buried beneath Timber, amplified by the empty chambers and sending fear racing through the hearts of those unfortunate enough to hear it.