This is me being impatient
Hey, I know I'm not supposed to unveil the next chapter until it's complete. But it's been months since the last update of UFF that I just couldn't wait for Chapter 61 to be finished before posting something. And since it would be extremely half-assed to do this in FFOnline, I'm putting this here first. The first segment of Chapter 61 of Unfolding Fates
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The news of the fiery battle raging in Balamb seemed to be blaring from all over. Throughout the city of Esthar, every citizen appeared to have taken on the streets, anxiety evident from each of them even though the war was taking place thousands of miles away. The Estharians were no fools, each fully aware of Balamb Garden’s significance to their country’s foreign policies and, though far away from them, the altercation between Garden’s SeeDs and the warriors of Citadel would have a profound effect to their nation’s future.
And maybe the world’s, as well.
Within Esthar’s Presidential Palace, events were unfolding at an even more chaotic pace as Palace staff scampered about, stirred by the High Alert triggered by the Balamb War. Office workers and military personnel nearly ran into each other in the frantic race to attend to emergency procedures that had not been resorted to in close to twenty years. Security tightened by ten times, and even high government officials found it difficult to move around without security forces hounding them at every turn. One Army general barked into his cell phone with a hoarse voice to issue staunch commands to his Lieutenants stationed at the Airstation to take over the ATC center.
The chaos would probably be more serious had everyone known about the one thing that only a handful of Palace personnel - mainly the Military High Command and the Presidential Cabinet - had been flabbergasted about since the first High Alert rang out.
Within the relative safety of the Presidential Private Office, Ellone had been asking the same question over and over.
“Where the hell is Laguna?” She watched the throng of military transport vehicles cluttering the skies nervously through the 10-foot high observation window shielded by multiple sheets of one-way reflective camouflage glass - the same material used in concealing Esthar from the world up until two years ago. Behind her, seated calmly on the sofa, was a figure that seemed to be the only one unaffected by the commotion.
“You wish to be angry with him at this moment, and you would have been if you hadn’t loved him so much.” His right hand, which was almost a quarter of a meter wide, inched slightly over his robe-covered left knee. “Rest assured, child, that Laguna is where he needs to be.”
“Where he needs to be is here, doing his job.” Ellone replied, her voice uncharacteristically grim. She turned around to face the visitor. “Or haven’t you noticed that there have already been at least a thousand people that barged into that door looking for him.”
“I counted only twelve.”
She backed down repentantly after being reminded that she should know better than to spout out panic-induced hyperbole to the Shumi Elder. To a people that established a culture of inviolable serenity, such a behavior was almost a travesty. “My apologies. I just don’t know what to do with all this happening.”
“Your people need to learn to leap only when the abyss is right before them.” Elder’s voice was almost lethargic. “What good would it do to agonize over a war happening scores of leagues away?”
Ellone crossed her arms. “With all due respect, Elder, but international affairs are much more complicated for anyone to simply dismiss. Especially if the problem involves Balamb Garden.”
“True.” He conceded, acknowledging that being his people’s Elder did not make him wise to all the complexities of the world. “Which is why we choose to remain inside our ice-sheltered community. The world is much too troubling for my people to endure.” He watched as Ellone turned towards the window again. “Which is why despite our abhorrence of worldly affairs, we still admire the courage of people like your uncle.”
My uncle? Ellone wanted to retort. But her respect for the Elder silenced her adamant objection.
“My apologies, child. I am aware of your regard for Laguna as much more than a childhood guardian.”
“What do you mean?” She asked, trying to look innocent.
“Forgive me. We Shumis are more in tune than you humans to emotions when they scream out of one’s heart or mind. I didn’t mean to glean into your feelings for him.”
Ellone bit her lips. “I have no time to dwell over something that he doesn’t wish to return.”
“As you might have been aware, I called on your… called on Laguna some time before. It wasn’t that he has no heart to return. Your culture simply is not very forgiving of circumstances that go against what the majority declare as normal. It has always puzzled me how such a technologically capable race could have so small a mind when it comes to something as simple as love.”
“Are you trying to tell me that…” Ellone’s face radiated bewilderment, wanting badly to believe the hope that the Shumi’s words seemed to carry. “No… no. Not now.” She waved her arms dismissively. “This isn’t the time for that.”
“Prudence. I like prudence.”
“Which is something Laguna’s sorely lacking right now. He should be here trying to control the chaos. We’re all about to lose our minds trying to figure out what do to. Where is he? Where are Kiros and Ward?”
“They are where they are needed the most.”
“Elder, I’d appreciate if you’d be a little less cryptic. I’m sorry, but being left here in the middle of officials and generals who couldn’t agree between bolstering Homeland security and sending a fleet to assist Garden isn’t exactly putting me on the steadiest ground.”
“What does your heart tell you to be right?”
“I have friends in Garden. Lots of friends. And my heart is telling me to send every combat unit available to wipe the Citadelians off the face of the planet. I…”
The phone sitting on the President’s table suddenly emanated a continuous beeping sound, together with a caller ID on the LCD display that told Ellone who was getting through on the priority right. She didn’t waste any time in tapping the Answer button.
“Ellone here.”
Major Sarah Pearson, who was currently Station Commander of the Balamb Response Office, appeared on the LCD screen. Is the President still missing?” her voice crackled from the speaker.
“Afraid so. Sorry, Major.”
”Not your fault. But just so anyone in that damned office knows, we’re not waiting another minute longer.”
She heaved a deep breath. The major wasn’t exactly waiting for a go-signal; Sarah Pearson has been known to be maverick enough to act on her own when she deemed the situation called for it. But Ellone knew she was still expecting some kind of acknowledgement, or else she wouldn’t be calling. This would perhaps be the biggest decision she had to make.
“Do what you have to do.”
"Roger that."
The phone returned to its Ready state.
“The die is cast.”
“Just hope we all know what we’re doing.” Ellone sighed heavily, and then turned her attention back to the Shumi Elder. “And you really haven’t told me yet the reason for your visit. Surely it isn’t to counsel me on my messed up love life. So… what? Should you only be talking to Laguna about it?”
“What I have to say is reserved only for him, yes.” Elder replied with unexpected foreboding. “But given the circumstances, I think it’s best for you to know what I have come here for, as well.”
“All right, I’m listening. What is it?”
“I have come to warn you.”
Ellone knew the Elder well enough to know that he wasn’t predisposed to empty or half-filled rhetoric. When the Shumi spoke with a tone as grim as that, the obligatory bad news was as sure a thing as a house burning down when someone doused it with gasoline and lit the curtains with a flamethrower. Her hands felt cold on the realization that whatever crisis they faced now was just the beginning.
“I now know with certainty who your true enemy is.”