Chapter 12: Academy attack
Alexia was having a nice morning. She was enjoying breakfast with her sister who was sharing a report from Sherry. She'd made steady progress with her study of the artifact. Sherry believed she'd be able to break the artifact's code soon. Both sisters thought anything that might shed light on the cult was good news. Alexia mentioned that Poochie had finally recovered enough to go back to class, and it was largely thanks to her nursing him back to health. (A story for another day/omake.) Iris had just brought up a request from her friend Beatrix when a royal knight burst in to interrupt them.
There'd been some sort of attack on the Midgar Academy campus.
XXX
"What are we waiting for?" Alexia demanded.
She, her sister, and most of the knights in the capital were assembled in front of the main gate to the school. Other units had been sent to surround the campus and keep the civilians a safe distance. Since their arrival there'd been no sign of any activity. Just on the other side of the gate there were the bodies of a pair of knights.
"We can't just rush in without knowing the situation," Iris told her. "Not only do we not know the circumstances with the students and faculty, but the scouts that have gone on campus report something is interfering with their magic."
"So what? Anything that's messing with us will be messing with them too! We've got hundreds of knights! Let's go save everyone now before something happens to them!"
Iris frowned. "Alexia, this is no time to be reckless. There are lives at stake. If we just rush in blind, we may only make things worse. We need to know what the circumstances are before we act."
"What if people are being killed right this minute?! What if doing nothing is the worst thing we could do?"
Iris put a hand on her sister's shoulder and leaned in. "There's no evidence of that. So far as we can tell this is a hostage situation. Executing the students or teacher would just be sacrificing bargaining chips to no purpose. Calm down and stop imagining the worst. I'm sure Cid is fine."
"W… What? I'm not worried about that stupid Poochie! Knowing him he's probably curled up in a bathroom stall somewhere and doesn't even know the campus has been occupied yet."
"Uh, huh."
"Don't give me that look! I'm not thinking about that idiot at all!"
"Of course, you're not," she patted Alexia's shoulder. "After this is over and he's safe why don't you two go somewhere together and make some happy memories?"
Alexia sputtered something about wasting time and spoiling your pet and having absolutely no interest in anything like that. It didn't sound especially convincing.
A short time later a single figure approached. He looked the right age to be a student but was wearing a black cloak. He came to a halt about ten feet from the gate.
"We are Shadow Garden!" he announced loud enough for everyone to hear clearly.
Those words were quite familiar to Alexia.
Iris stepped forward. "I am Crown Princess Iris Midgar. I demand to know why Shadow Garden has attacked this academy. What are your intentions? And is the man named Shadow your leader?"
He ignored her and made his demands. "We have taken all the students and staff as prisoners and will execute them if you do not agree to our terms. Shadow Garden demands a ransom of five billion zeni, to be delivered here by sunrise tomorrow. If any rescue attempt is made, we will kill the hostages." The young terrorist gave them a smug grin. "Not that any attempt would succeed anyway. We've blocked mana use by all outsiders, but we members of Shadow Garden," he held his right hand out and created a burst of flame. "If the money is not here and ready by sunrise tomorrow all those innocent deaths will be on your head. We are Shadow Garden!"
"We can't raise that much money that quickly," Iris argued. "You'll need to give us at least three days. I also want to talk to some of the teachers and students to confirm they're being treated humanely."
The man turned around and started walking away without acknowledging her.
"Damn it," Iris muttered. "We'll have to take the funds straight out of the national treasury."
"Iris," Alexia spoke quietly. "That man was lying there's no way he is really a member of Shadow Garden."
"And why do you think that?"
"The slashers who attacked me, all they'd say over and over again was, 'We are Shadow Garden.' I believed it right up until I saw Shadow attack them. Obviously, they were reading a script to try and get us to blame Shadow Garden for the slasher crimes. This has got to be the same!"
Iris frowned. "You don't know that. Alexia, I've told you this before. You have a great deal of faith in Shadow and Shadow Garden. I have to wonder if it's blurring your view of things."
"He-"
"He saved your life twice. I know that, and I am grateful to him from the bottom of my heart. But that doesn't necessarily mean his intentions are as pure as you obviously assume them to be. Like it or not, we know nothing about him beyond the fact he wears a mask, is a powerful swordsman, and is an enemy of the Cult of Diablos. Oh, wait we know one more thing," she gave her sister a firm look. "From his own mouth, that he is not our ally."
"That's not the same as saying he's, our enemy."
"It's also not the same as saying he's, our friend. I understand why you want to see him and Shadow Garden in the best possible light. But that's not a legitimate reason for me to ignore the words coming out of a criminal's mouth."
"No, the fact he's a criminal should be the reason to ignore it. Or at the very least be suspicious. Think about it, why would anyone want the world to know they're committing a crime?"
"The three crime lords of Outlaw City seem to do so."
"That's different! Outlaw City is outside any country's jurisdiction! No one can touch them, so of course they think they can get away with bragging about things!"
"Has anyone touched Shadow yet?"
"Uh…"
"I won't assume that these criminals aren't lying about their identity. They are criminals after all. But Alexia, you can't assume these people aren't Shadow Garden or that Shadow couldn't be behind this. Until we're certain of the truth we can't make any assumptions."
"I guess that's good enough for now."
XXX
The day dragged on with bits of confusion and excitement.
Iris placed scouts with spyglasses on various rooftops surrounding the school. She got a handful of reports about bodies on the school grounds. These would have been worrisome except all the bodies were dressed in black cloaks. There wasn't any additional information so Iris could only speculate as to the cause. A falling out among the terrorists? Could some of the teachers have escaped capture and handed out some justice? Maybe another criminal organization was somehow involved? There was no way to know.
During the afternoon there was also word about the sound of fighting and the occasional scream. As with the sighting of bodies there was no other information and so no way to draw any positive conclusions. Naturally, it was feared that the screams were from students being attacked or tortured.
Despite her worries Iris could not give the order to storm the gate until she knew more.
Then, just after sunset, there was a massive flash of purple light above the main school building. This was followed immediately by the sound of multiple screams and the ringing of steel. Iris didn't know what was happening, but it was obvious something major was occurring. Deciding she could no longer afford to wait; she led the knights in smashing down the gate and assaulting the campus.
Alexia was in the first wave and determined to help rescue all the hostages. She was NOT hoping to save anyone in particular. She was NOT worried about any one specific person. And she was absolutely, definitely, with one hundred percent certainty NOT searching for one specific face.
As the knights stormed onto the campus, they encountered a handful of enemy patrols. To their very great satisfaction they discovered that all of them had full access to their magic. The criminals they encountered were butchered, as getting to the hostages was the only priority. There were soon cries of 'fire' as several school buildings began to burn.
Fortunately, as they approached the main building, they spotted a mass of students running out towards them. Amazingly, there were no enemies to be seen anywhere. Alexia and everyone else had expected a desperate fight against violent criminals with nothing left to lose. Instead, they'd liberated the campus with almost no fighting and rescued most of the hostages. Rather than fighting, their main task became leading the students out of the burning buildings and on to safety.
Alexia did her part, assisting the confused masses while NOT keeping her eye out for anyone. It was in the middle of all this that she finally spotted someone she recognized.
"Skel!" Alexi ran up to the boy and grabbed his arm. "Have you seen Poo- Cid? Is he all right?"
He looked at her in confusion. "Princess Alexia?"
"Yes, it's me. Have you seen Cid? Do you know where he is?"
The boy came out of his fog, and as soon as he did his face fell and he stared at the ground, unable to meet her gaze. "I… I'm so, so sorry."
Alexia felt her heart skip a bit. "What? What is it?"
"Cid… he was killed."
Alexia wasn't exactly sure what happened next. But she found herself gripping scarecrow's jacket and shoving him up against a wall. He wasn't resisting or telling her to stop. He was just looking at her with sad, empty eyes.
"You're lying! There's no way that stupid idiot could be dead!"
"I'm sorry."
"What happened? Tell me!"
"We were at the end of magic theory when they stormed into the class. The class president was there. When they told us all to come with them, she tried to fight back, only to realize she didn't have magic. One of them decided to attack her, that's when Cid… he was really brave."
"You're telling me Cid, Mr. I-am-too-lazy-to-comb-my-hair-in-the-morning Cid Kagenou, threw himself at an armed criminal to try and save someone he doesn't even know? Does that even remotely sound like him? See! I knew you were lying!"
"I'm sorry."
"Where did this happen?"
"What?"
"Where did this happen? I'm going to see for myself."
"You don't want-"
She slammed him into the wall and brought her face an inch from his. "Where?"
He swallowed. "Science building, room two oh one."
Alexia pumped mana into her legs and raced to the science building. She arrived to find it burning. The main stairwell was engulfed in flames. She leapt up to the second story window and kicked out the glass. Her right leg was gashed but she hardly noticed. The fire was spreading, but she could still reach the lecture hall. She got to the door and hesitated for just a heartbeat. She didn't want to see his body. She didn't want to know for sure that he was gone forever.
But she had to.
She pushed open the door and peered inside. The flames in the hall gave her all the light she needed. Chairs had been knocked over and there were books and papers everywhere. The teacher's lectern was lying on its side, and she could see blood staining the floorboards. But there was no body.
"I will kill that blond scarecrow for making me worry!"
Clearly Cid had gotten wounded and Scarecrow and everyone else had just assumed he was dead. No doubt he had then spent the rest of the day hiding in a toilet somewhere. Alexia ran out and began to search as much of he building as she could as the flames spread. When had no choice she leapt back down to the ground and went into the humanities building to look for him there.
Alexia ran all across the burning campus, shouting his name and searching everywhere she could think. She could find no trace of him but had absolutely no doubt he was okay. She would NOT even consider any other possibility. Poochie was clearly too stupid and lazy to do something as demanding as actually die.
After she'd searched everywhere she could she stopped for a moment and healed her leg. Cid had kept telling her that he only knew the basics and any second-year nursing student would know more than him. But she had still made him teach her. It was only fair after all the gold she'd wasted on him to get some return on her investment after all.
Having looked everywhere she could think of she decided to try the medical tent that had been set up just inside of the gate. Maybe even a fool like him would have enough sense to have a real doctor treat his wounds. After what had happened at the tournament, she was not at all sure of it, but it was at least possible.
Alexia stormed straight into the tent. There were about twenty or thirty patients lying either in cots or on blankets spread out on the grass.
"Is Cid Kagenou here?" She shouted at the top of her lungs.
Many faces turned to look at her, including a physician who looked irate.
"Another one? Lower your voice, this is a medical facility."
Alexia did maintain enough common sense to realize just how rudely she was behaving and bowed in the doctor's direction. "I'm sorry, but I'm looking for a boy named Cid Kagenou. Is here?"
The doctor let out an aggrieved sigh. "You're the second princess to come here looking for him," he pointed at a figure lying on his side on some blankets.
Iris was worried too. Alexia ran over and confirmed that it really was Poochie. Without any hesitation she reached down and hugged him.
"Poochie! I'm so glad you're okay!"
There was a grunt and a muffled voice. "Well… I was. Hey, how was your day?"
She laughed and carefully set him back down. All the anxiety and fear of the past several hours was now forgotten. And even though Midgar Academy was burning all about her, she was smiling.
"Well, it wasn't too good. A certain someone was causing me stress and making me worry the whole time."
He looked at her. "Really?"
"Yeah, afraid so."
"Huh, so what did Iris do to stress you out so much?"
Alexia stared at him for a moment. Then bopped him on the head.