Belle Et La Bete (Liberi Fatali Arc)
Chapter One
Never said you'd promise anything...
Laguna paced back and forth. Usually, this was an everyday occurrence for the jittery man, but today in particular, it seemed to rile Squall up more than usual. This is what led him to be lying in his room, flicking through a gunblade specialist magazine. He had considered upgrading, as new gunblade styles came and went very rarely. He was sure that his Lion Heart would be superior, but it never hurt to check though. He scowled as he heard his father (once again) make a loud, joyous exclamation. He was only going to Timber. The fact that he had (willingly) chosen to do this by foot was something that he took no interest in. If the old man wanted to be stupid and kill himself along the way, that was not his problem.
Or at least it wouldn't be, but Laguna always seemed to want to involve him in everything he did. His sister, Ellone, had once tried to comfort him, explaining that it was that same quality that made Laguna the successful, loved leader that he was today.
Squall thought it was incredible luck. His expression had relayed this to Ellone, which in the end was one of the reasons why Squall was taking solace in his room. In the end, it wasn't that he didn't like his father, more like they had…a clash of personalities. He didn't have to worry about him. He had Kiros and Ward to protect him.
"Squall! Do you want me to bring you back anythiiiiing?"
Squall ignored this. Ellone had already been asked what she wanted for her birthday, some kind of rare flower. A rose he thought it was called. He'd never heard of one, but Ellone had seen pictures. If it were simply expensive, it wouldn't be an issue, but a rose was like an un-mined diamond: priceless and illusive. Usually, Ellone wouldn't ask for such an impossible item. Laguna however, had often told them both tales of how he had regaled their mother with a single rose. He had begged Ellone to change her request of ribbons into something grander and harder to get. Ellone, thinking shrewdly, and kind heartedly, had asked Laguna to get her something which she knew would be impossible, knowing that he would have to resort to the simpler job of buying her ribbons. Squall knew better though. He knew that Laguna had spent six months once, simply to find Squall the perfect present for his sixteenth. He had to admit, it was one of his more favourite gifts. He idly fingered said present, which hung from a silver chain around his neck. He had matched the item with a ring for his seventeenth. 'Griever', Laguna had called it.
If this is what was expected, he dreaded his eighteenth. Laguna had probably already begun preparations for it. He had only turned seventeen about a month ago. Born on the cusp of August and September, both Leo and Virgo.
Because of this, Squall was now in his room, door locked, and waiting for Laguna to leave. He had already said his goodbyes, but if he actually asked for something, Laguna could be gone for years.
A small knock interrupted his thoughts. He ignored it, thinking it was Laguna.
"Squall, he's already gone, so let me in."
He slid off of his bed and flipped the lock. Ellone smile at him as he opened the door. She was wearing her favourite collared blue top and skirt, but the green shawl that usually accompanied it was missing. Squall raised an eyebrow.
"I gave it to him for good luck" She explained. He nodded slightly and walked back over to the bed to resume his magazine. Ellone followed at a casual pace.
"You know he's going to look for that rose now until he finds it" Squall commented as he flicked past the revolver section of the gunblades. Ellone smiled softly
"I'm sure he'll opt for the easier option. After all, when's the last time anyone has even heard of a rose, never mind seen one?."
"He won't give up" Squall reminded her. Hmm, the Flame Saber looked nice, but it didn't seem to have the speed that Shear Trigger did, maybe if he combined the components of the two….
"-before we know it"
Whoops. He needed to pay more attention when there were actually people in the room.
"Say again?"
" Don't worry, he'll get lonely and be back before we know it" Ellone repeated. Squall shrugged. He'd be back soon enough, and no doubt cause an extreme amount of trouble along the way.
"Damn damn damn damn!"
All that the vivid forest life heard were these words as the owner zoomed past, a Ruby dragon following in tow. Usually, the sight of a ruby dragon would cause a stir, but the creatures were well aware that it already had a target. It was with this information that they watched this strange two legged creature being chased almost curiously.
Laguna sprinted past with his gun slung on his shoulder. Now and then he would fire some bullets, but only to warn the creature away, which to his frustration, had no effect.
It was safe to admit he was lost. It was not a surprise, considering that for the past two weeks he had been getting lost on and off. He knew his chocobo was around here somewhere, but all the damn trees looked the same. He wished he had Ellone's sense of direction. Laguna grinned a little. Squall, actually had a worse sense of direction than he did (although he would deny this and force others to deny it on pain of icy glare of death). However, his son did have more common sense. He always carried a compass with him. Well, a compass spell at least. He kept it in his ring if Laguna remembered rightly. He chuckled a little as he dove for a hiding space. Once, Squall had the ring borrowed (through no choice of his own) and they had to send out a search party for him. Squall was more like him than he'd like to admit, though he did have his mother's soft features, eyes, and her serious expressions. Ah, he missed Raine's no nonsense demeanour.
He stilled as he watched the ruby dragon go past, skulking quietly. It prowled, but it would be amateurish for anyone to imagine that the Ruby Dragon was sniffing him out. Laguna knew for a fact that Ruby Dragons had no sense of smell whatsoever, which made it easy to hide from. Laguna imagined that he would be quite cranky if he had no sense of smell, then rectified his thoughts as he caught a whiff of his shirt. He really needed to get this cleaned…
Another advantage was that Ruby Dragons were also quite heavy, so it was doable to actually outrun the creatures. It would be arrogant to say that it was easy, but he managed to only stumble a few times.
He heard a small "wark!" The Ruby dragon swung round. The dragon was definitely not deaf. He dove out from behind the bush he had hidden (cowered) behind. He began to wave his arms, catching the dragon's eye.
"Oh shii…Ow!" Laguna was thrown backwards by the force of the 'breath' attack. He landed on one knee…and was unable to rise. Damn, such power to take out most of his stamina. He pulled a grenade out. It was his last one, but hopefully would serve as a diversion.
"Time for a little bit of Desperado" He pulled the pin out with his teeth, and rolled it on the ground. Unfortunately, he no longer had Ward to hoist him up with a rope and make it look like he was flying out of the sky, but he still had his gun.
He made as much smoke as possible, shooting at the feet of the dragon. He found it unfair that he should attempt to kill it (not that he could without help but still) when he was the one who disturbed it.
"Five…four...three...two…one" He waited expectantly. There was nothing. Ugh, a dud grenade. He would have to do this the hard way. He whistled. With another "wark!", his chocobo ran over. Luckily for Laguna, Boko was pretty used to such escapades, and waltzed past the ruby dragon, which was still 'breath-ing' in what remained of the smoke. Laguna timed his jump and hoped he'd landed well. A disgruntled "wark!" from his disgruntled chocobo confirmed a well executed jump.
"Good job Boko. Let's get out of here." The chocobo warbled in agreement as they sped off.
Squall opened one eye at the knocking. Usually, Ellone would get the door, but he vaguely remembered her mentioning something about visiting friends. He sat up and stretched slightly, before lazily making his way to the front door. He'd barely opened the door before the figure walked in.
"Where is he? We have a political crisis if Laguna's missing" The man demanded. Squall surveyed the two figures, oppositional in physique. The man, who had spoken, Kiros, was already pacing back and forth. Squall gestured to the empty room.
Kiros spun and faced Squall.
"You mean to tell me, that he went out...alone?" Squall raised an eyebrow. Why in Hyne's name would he not take these two with him?
"I figured that it was only common sense that he's take you two" Squall said non-committedly, now mildly concerned for his father.
"…." Ward, the larger of the two men, looked to Kiros.
"I know, he should have waited for us. Squall, do you know where he said he was going?" Squall shrugged.
"Ellone asked him for a rose"
Kiros stared at Squall in horror. Squall had enough in him to smile grimly in understanding at what Ellone had so obviously missed.
"Aah, where are we Boko? Where have you taken us?" Boko warbled irritably in reply to this. It was cold, and wet, but Laguna seemed set on continuing into this monstrosity of a forest. Three times now Boko had caught his feathers on the branches. He trotted, trying in vain to edge his way out of the forest, but to no avail. Stupid human. Surely his nose isn't bad enough to not be able to smell that obvious stench of wolf…wait. Wolf?
Laguna turned in his seat at Boko's nervous trembling. He saw gleaming amber eyes and an almost dainty pink tongue sliding behind silvery teeth. Laguna was out of grenades, bullets, and apparently, luck. Usually, he was gentler with Boko, but that one moment caused him to kick Boko into a run. Boko wholeheartedly agreed. The wolf made chase, as four other wolf shaped shadows slinked out from the shadows to follow their alpha. Usually, they'd have no interest in human. However, chocobo was a rare delicacy. The human was an added bonus.
"GO BOKO GO!" Laguna screamed as they made chase. The chocobo kweh-shrieked and sped up, making a mad dash for what he hoped was salvation.
Salvation wasn't exactly the word that came to mind when they saw the looming castle. In fact, the cruelly twisted features of the grotesque statues would be a deterrent for most, people and chocobo alike. Laguna saw the same hope and hopped off of Boko, running to the tall gates. Apparently, this wasn't quick enough for Boko, who upon finding that he was a lot faster without Laguna on him, ran past the castle into the deeper parts of the forest. Laguna took one nano-second to mourn for his poor pet, before panic set it. The gate was NOT opening! He banged on it with his fists. In desperation, he pushed against it… and fell in. His surprise at once again being tricked by the direction a door/gate had to be opened was quelled and he promptly shoved the door closed, into the face of the alpha wolf, which was not pleased, but gave him up for the easier option of a chocobo chase. Laguna had considered running out after Boko, but if he did that he was sure to be killed. At least this way, there was some chance both of them could escape intact, wasn't there?
Looking up at the castle, he wasn't sure.
"Rinoa..Rinoa! Look outside. There's a . . . humus outside!" Selphie could hardly contain her excitement, and knew the best chance of response was from Rinoa or Zell.
Rinoa's ears fluttered in excitement. "Really? A humus here?" Rinoa wasn't sure what a humus was, but it sounded delicious. A sigh that made both Rinoa and Selphie shiver piqued their interest.
"It's not humus, it's human, and you're not supposed to eat them" Quistis chastised. She made her way delicately towards the window that the two females were peeking out of to take a look for herself.
"His eminence is not going to like this"
"But Quisty, it's starting to rain. Don't be so cold hearted!" Rinoa defended. Quistis gave her a blank stare. Rinoa giggled.
"Pun was not intended. But seriously, he's going to die in that weather. Poor humus" she said, turning back to look out of the window.
"For the last time, it's human" Quistis said blandly. This would perhaps seem an odd tone to take, but there were few other emotional choices for the blonde.
"Ooooh! I'm gonna let him in! Selphie's dark wings trembled in excitement. She was promptly pulled back with a finger and a thumb pinching her left wing.
"Quisty! Lemme go! That's cold!" Quistis stared at her reproachfully.
"Be good then. Go and tell Zell and Irvine that we have a guest. And tell them to keep it quiet. The quieter it's kept, the more likely his Grace is going to let it occur." And with that, Quistis pointed a finger in the direction of the kitchens. Selphie grumbled, but did as she was told.
"What about me?" Rinoa asked. Quistis looked her up and down.
Well, to be honest, you're going to be the one that will least upset his sensibilities, so see him in and take him to the main table. I need to inform our Lord that we will be having a guest."
Rinoa gulped and nodded.
"Good luck"
Upstairs, Squall was blissfully unaware of any encroaching danger. Until he heard a knock at the door.
"El!"
Nothing.
He tried again. He scowled slightly. He hated answering the door, especially when he was sure his sister was in. He threw his almost (so close!) finished magazine to the floor, and walked downstairs to open the door to the third person who had interrupted his well earned break. School had been particularly annoying recently, and the workload had been too much considering that the new term had only started less than a month ago.
"Squall. Miss me?"
Vincent 'Vince' Deling. Son to one of the richest people in the world. The fact that they had a city named after their family name suggested their wealth. Vincent senior was here in the months running up to the electoral campaign, directly in competition with his own father. He had first met the Deling father and son during a public meeting between the parties involved.
Laguna had been there waiting, talking amongst the guests, having photos taken. His children had both unwittingly pulled themselves into the light by entering late, a fact that Squall cursed about in retrospect.
Laguna had ushered them towards him, and had introduced them. Squall had spent the rest of the miserable evening avoiding the Deling son. of course, in this key stage of the campaign, he couldn't afford to ruin things for his father, so had done so tactfully. The violent rebuttals hadn't begun until later...
It had been frustrating, as he had to keep most of what occurred hidden. Unfortunately however, that left most of what Vince did unaccountable for. Both of them were in a delicate balance of not ruining things for their fathers. However, Squall cared a lot more for his father's result than Vince did for his own. Therefore, Squall had to be careful. At least until it was over. Vincent had responded to this challenge with zeal. He knew where Squall worked part-time, knew his classes during school, he even knew when he wasn't working (like now).
As soon as he realised who it was, Squall immediately tried to shut the door. The recipient however, anticipated this action and had already stuck his foot in the doorway and pried it open.
"Get the hell out"
Vince ignored him as he sauntered in. He looked round for a moment.
"Home alone Squall? It seems so"
"Why are you even here. Don't you have anything better to do than annoy me?"
"I knew that you'd be lonely, so I decided to take pity on you and invite you out"
"I have work soon"
"I know that's a lie"
"God you just can't take a damn hint can you?"
"Just tell me the truth Squall"
"You don't listen to the truth. You don't seem to get how little I want to do with you or your family"
Squall went to walk past Vince, who grabbed him by the shoulder. Squall noticed that the hand lingered there long after he had turned to face his again. He would rectify that.
Seeing Squall's intent, Vince removed his hand, but slowly; a message to Squall 'I'm not afraid of you'
"Let's go Squall"
"Go to hell"
"I promise you'll give in soon"
"Vince, go and find someone else to flirt with. Seriously " Squall worked hard to keep the desperation out of his voice, but wasn't sure if he'd succeeded, as Vince seemed to give an amused smile.
"Squall, I'm not flirting. I love you"
Squall's shoulders stiffened and he moved to leave the house once again. Vince grabbed his shoulder roughly, not wanting him to escape. Again, his touch lingered. In a fury, Squall gripped the offending hand and twisted it painfully. He could see that this hurt Vince, but Vince merely chuckled. Vince seemed to relish the closeness Squall was forced into in order to keep him restrained, which unnerved Squall enough to loosen his grip slightly. Vince took advantage of Squall's momentary distraction to release himself, abruptly and quickly reversing their positions so he now held Squall in a wrist lock behind his back. He slammed him against the wall. Squall struggled, but it only served to increase the pressure on his wrist. He felt hot breath in his ear as Vince leaned into him to speak.
"I love you, and how feisty you are. You need to belong to me. A person of my station demands it Squall. Stop fighting it. I will make you and your family very rich. I love you" The words were dripping with barely suppressed desire.
That word again. Love. If it existed, did not occur in two months. His father had sworn blind that he knew he loved their mother from the moment he'd laid his eyes on her, but that was simply romantic nonsense. How could you love someone you didn't know?
"What the hell does a person like you know about love?" Squall's voice was low and quiet, a dangerous sign, having ceased struggling for the moment, knowing that it would only farther aggravate his wrist, and in this proximity, spur Vince on.
"You need to be mine. We match perfectly. We are both better than the common rabble around here. I won't settle for any less than perfection" Squall caught himself shaking slightly in anger. not wanting to show weakness, he forced an unwanted calm throughout his body. When he spoke, it was in a controlled, and slightly bored tone, perfectly disguising the anger.
"What do you even know about me? I thought this was a stupid crush, but if you're daring to put a name to it-"
"I dare Squall. If you want to play games with me, that's fine, but I will always come out on top" He drawled the last word, making Squall flinch. A sharp pressure on his wrist reminded him not to move too much.
"I could have you right now if I wanted, you know. It would be easy. Away from prying eyes..." Vince looked around in satisfaction.
"Fuck you Vince, you'd never get close enough" Squall gritted his teeth to stifle a cry of pain as the pressure increased, almost forcing him to his knees. His legs shook with the effort of trying to remain standing. Squall was adept at strength in a fight, and excelled in speed, but Vince was undeniably stronger than him, and he had lost his chance by letting Vince go. The breath tickled his ear as Vince chuckled. A hand crept up Squall's side and brushed against his neck, making him flinch. His thumb traced circles on his neck before tracing slowly along his jaw line. His voice was soft, almost reverent, were it not for the underlying desire.
"Oh, I know you'd put up a fight. That's what I love, the way you simply will not give in. If I broke your wrists-" Here he emphasized his point by applying pressure "-you would still find a way to defy me to the bitter end. That's what will make it so satisfying when the day does come" The fingers had pushed passed the t-shirt and were almost thoughtfully following the line of his collarbone, stopping at the neck. Squall pulled away from the fingers so abruptly, he caused a sharp pain to run through his neck. He cursed at the pain.
"You see Squall? I know you. I know all I need to know about you...and luckily for you, I'm very patient. No one has ever turned me down. I always get what I want. Always. And that includes you. Remember that"
Vince had a smug smile as he slowly released Squall, who wrenching his arm away from him almost immediately. Squall faced him, hiding his hurt wrist behind him, not wanting to see the damage while Vince still stood there. He didn't want to give him the satisfaction. His narrowed eyes were chips of ice, his expression well guarded.
"You try that again, and I will end you" He spoke calmly. Vince sneered slightly.
"One day I will break through that pale, stone-faced facade of yours. You pretend indifference all you want, I will break you eventually. I want to see you flushed with desire, anger, pain... I want a reaction! I want to see you riled up! Let me see that side of you..."
"I would kill myself before giving you the pleasure!" Squall hissed venomously, still barely keeping a tight rein on his emotions, not wanting Vince to see him angry, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.
"Don't try to pretend you hate me. We're probably a lot more similar than you think. Maybe we have certain...interests in common. The way you keep causing me to hurt you, you seem to enjoy pain. That's good, I like inflicting it"
He landed with a crunch on the floor outside. Squall stood there for a moment, his knuckles red and sore from the punch. He looked down at him dispassionately, and spoke in a cold voice.
"Find someone else. If you dare to enter our house again, I don't care if I go to prison for it, I will slice you to pieces if it means I never have to see you again" Squall said, before abruptly slamming the door in his face.
"I'll be back Squall, you just wait. And this time, I won't just knock"
Squall leant against the front door in barely suppressed anger. He could hear people begin to gather at the commotion, but Squall was too busy examining his injuries.
Fucking weirdo. These days people tacked the word love to everything and seemed to think that that was alright. Vince didn't know anything about him whatsoever. All these months of stalking him, and he thought he knew all of Squall's secrets. Even something as simple as colour preferences, nothing. Not that many people did, but he would expect that the person who loved him would know these things, or at least have enough affection to find out. He would NOT be another feather in the Deling's family hat, obviously passed down from the father.
He thought of idle nonsense for a while as he ran his hand under the kitchen tap, both needing the coolness of the water to avoid swelling. His wrist seemed fine after working out the ache, so he was able to use his hand to rub his neck gently. He was in the process of attempting to massage the affected area with his fingers when her heard the sound of distant footsteps.
"Squall? Are you in?" Ellone called.
"In here El"
She entered the kitchen, holding a bag. She waved at him with her fingers, before she noticed what he was doing. She took one look at his bruised knuckles, dropped the bag on the counter, and made her way over to examine his hand.
"Squall? What happened?" He tried to get her to release the hand, but she held on fast. She gave him a disapproving look.
"Nothing important" He avoided her gaze, and she sighed in exasperation. She then held his hand under the tap once again. He would've laughed at her conclusion, considering that was what she had seen him doing as she walked in, but it was unwise to anger Ellone when she was in 'big sister' mode. She always liked to remind Squall in little ways that she was the elder by two years, so he would allow her to make a fuss when she tended to him. He was thankful that the wrist showed no signs of wear. He didn't want his family to get too involved with this problem. He decided to change the subject.
"El?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you know my favourite colour?"
She looked up at him, her eyes holding a wry curiosity
"Of course" she said lightly. She remained silent, teasing the next question from him.
"What do you think it is?"
"Tell me mine first"
"Orange" The reply was instant. It was surprising, but she did love the colour orange. She said it made her feel cheerful. She insisted it didn't suit her though, which is why she never wore it.
"Right!" She smiled. He waited expectantly. She placed a finger on her chin thoughtfully, her brown doe eyes sparkling.
"Well, back when you were very young, you always liked to steal my yellow ball and hide it in your bed, so it used to be that, but now..." She 'hmmed' in mock thought.
There was a comfortable silence for a moment, Squall fidgeted.
"?"
"I did not like the colour yellow"
When Ellone laughed, Squall could not help but give a small smile. She was right, but the other nice thing about people you loved was their ability to humour you when you denied things out of pride.
"Okay little brother, I guess I made a mistake" She smiled at him good humouredly. She continued to mock think the answer.
For the most part (minus his weird yellow phase which he would continue to deny), he'd always loved green. Just because he didn't wear it…black is easy to wear for Hyne's sake! It's true that when people looked at the colours of his room (blue and white) they never saw green as a favourite colour choice, but that's what it was. This stemmed from an earlier memory of his. When Ellone and he were very young, they'd always been amazed at the vividness of the emerald city when watching "The Sorceress of Oz", and had attempted to re-enact the scenes. Their mother was not pleased. Apparently it wasn't good to combine green crayon with white wall. He thought it'd shown up well, but his mother didn't seem to agree. Their father had laughed and spun their mother around singing "We're off to see the sorceress" until she too was laughing. Laguna...he was always talking about the white dress that their mother had sometimes worn, and how happy the colour made him feel, as it reminded him of her.
White had always looked good on her. She had worn that colour a lot, a habit that Ellone had followed, which suited both of them well. Green was a colour that had suited them both. It was a colour that matched them well. Unfortunately, he knew that green made him look ridiculous (thank Hyne no one else did.)
Ellone seemed to sense what he was thinking about as she dried his hand. She moved to the medical box that sat in the cupboard.
"Squall?" He looked up. She offered him a green plaster, and an answer to his question. Despite himself, he took it, and made his way upstairs.