A/N: So...yeah, HI! It's me, I'm back and with my third fic...DADADAAAA!!!! lol I had this idea swimming in my head ever since I bought Dissidia: Final Fantasy and saw Bartz and Zidane and Squall together in that one scene...I was like: PERFECT!!!! Then I had to wait for an idea to hit me lol and it did
So! This is a, and yes you read it right, a Squall/Zidane/Bartz fic; there'll be others involved as well, hopefully this one will shock and awe you. There might be a lot of what some call OCC-ness with some of the characters but it is really needed. And of course this is AU...one of the very few ones I think...anyway...ALSO! Rated T for mentioned and drug use. Enjoy!
Wheel of Conflict
Chapter 1: The Thief who stole the Lion
"Help! Please, somebody help me!" echoed through a dark alley on a cold, rainy night; storm clouds had rolled in suddenly and a downpour began; the voice, seemingly female, clutched her knees to her chest, she wore all black, pants and a shirt, no shoes and had short blonde hair that framed her face "Somebody…please help!" she exclaimed again.
Suddenly, she could hear footsteps, as clear as a bell on the pavement, echoing ever closer. She felt hope well up inside of her, and looked up "Are you all right?" came a young baritone.
Translucent blue eyes looked up to stare at steel blue, she gasped slightly at the imposing man and shrunk into herself "It's all right, I won't hurt you, I'm here to help" the young man admitted.
"Oh thank goodness!" said the girl as she quickly latched on to the young man's waist "You have to help me!" she pleaded.
"What's the problem?" he asked, sounding both bored and bothered at the same time.
"A man was chasing me before, but I managed to get away…I don't know how far I've come though…" she told him as she looked up, surprised again by the scar that ran down the young face.
"All right, I'll have a look" the girl stepped aside and let the young man pass, the man looked around but then turned suddenly, a black and silver gun pointed at the girl "My wallet…" he said.
"Oops…" said the not-a-girl thief at being found out "No chance you could let me go, right?" he asked, a young male voice now instead of that high pitched girl-like voice.
"None" the young gunman almost growled, the thief sighed and tentatively walked toward the man "Fine…" he muttered, and then sped off behind him, down the alley "Stop!" the gunman yelled in frustration.
"No way!" the thief called back, laughing.
The young man snarled and picked up his pace, what he didn't count on was the thief stopping abruptly, causing him to trip into the wet pavement "Damn it!" he yelled, the boys' laugh grating on his nerves.
"I'm sorry…Officer Leonhart is it? But I kind of need this more than you" the cocky kid said to the officer on the floor, whirling his wallet on his face, with a smile on his face "See ya!" Officer Leonhart picked himself up and chased after the kid once more "I'm going to cut off those hands of yours thief!" he bellowed.
"Wow, nice incentive, I so want to give you back this wallet now," he chuckled as he dodged a taxi and crossed the street, the man in black leather close behind. As the boy ran into an alley he noted, too late, that it was a dead end, and slipped in a puddle of water, scraping himself here and there and losing grip on the leather wallet.
"Got you now…" growled the officer as he got closer, his pace lazy but cautious now, his silver gun in his hand.
The young man scuttled away as quickly as he could, his back to the brick wall "Shit, shit, shit, shit…" was all he could think. The brunet bent down and retrieved his wallet, frowning at its emptiness "Where's my money?" he asked.
"Aw come on…it's not like you need it…" he answered weakly, shaking a little now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off.
"I'm too tired to play games…" the brunet thought, pointing his gun at the kid "My money, now" he said sternly.
"Please don't shoot me!" the boy exclaimed, his bravado slowly slipping.
"I'm not planning to, hopefully this will scare you off" the other thought "One…" the boy trembled a little more, from the cold or from fear the man did not now "Two…" he didn't get to finish his sentence as the boy whizzed past him, between his legs and to the fire escape, he whipped out "Is that a tail?" he thought incredulously, as the boy jumped and said appendage, as blond as the boy's head, grabbed on to the ladder of the fire escape and he propelled himself onto the rooftop, leaving a dumbfounded brunet below.
"Thank you!" the boy exclaimed before running into the building.
"…Fuck" was all he said before running after the little punk.
~o~
The blond thief quickly made it down the steps of the rooftop, slipping dangerously along the way, trying to elude the cop he so brazenly stole from; he felt really good about that somehow. As he ducked under a pile of wood and moved some furniture of this old apartment complex he made it to the room he shared with his best friend.
"I'm back, wait 'til I tell ya what I did, you're gonna plotz" he chuckled as he counted the big wad of cash in his hand, at least 500 gil "Bartz?" he called out. The room was barren and small, a few crates here and there, a lantern was their sole light, an old couch in the corner, the wall was slightly busted, the cold wind and rain seeping into the room "Bartz…answer me please…" he said tentatively, he peered over a crate and laying there was his best friend, with a silly grin on his face and his body pale "Bartz!" he exclaimed, going to his friends' side "What did you do!?" he asked.
"Hey…" the brunet boy replied, emphasizing the word too much "…I'm flying today 'daney…" he giggled.
The blond spotted a bag filled with white powder and grimaced, a sob slowly working its way up his body "Bartz…you promised me you'd stop! You promised!" he yelled.
"But…it's so good 'daney…I can fly…" he giggled "Boco's such a silly chocobo…" he rambled "…It's ok Zidane…" he whispered, raising a hand to his friends' tear stained face "…he says he won't throw me off like last time…" he smiled.
"Bartz…" Zidane clutched his friend to his chest, sobbing openly, "You promised…you promised me it was all gone…and now you're…" Bartz nuzzled into his friends' chest and sighed, humming a tune and giggling in between it; in reality the blond was scared, with all the rain lately and the fact they haven't had a decent meal or anything, he's afraid that Bartz would leave him soon.
"You all right?" came a gruff voice, making Zidane gasp and turn his head. He let go of his friend and ducked quickly to grab a rusty dagger he had laying around, pointing it shakily at the black leather wearing cop.
"L-Leave us alone!" he said shakily, his voice breaking slightly over the tears that are still falling "Just leave!"
Officer Leonhart took two slow steps and stopped a little bit near the blonde; "What a night…and here I thought I could take it easy tonight…what a pain…" he thought and sighed "Is he all right?" he asked.
"I'm…flying hiiiiiigh…" Bartz sang and laughed "Hey look…it's a big scary kitty…get him some milk 'daney, don't be rude!" he giggle-snorted.
That broke the blond finally, as he fell to his knees and sobbed "Bartz you idiot…you idiot…I…" he noticed the taller man's movement and reacted "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed as he saw him pick up his best friend and carry him piggy back, again he pointed his rusty dagger at him.
"I'm taking him to the hospital, and you too" he said, surprising the blond to say the least.
"Y-You can't…" he stuttered, the man sighed impassively and raised a questioning eyebrow "His Dad you see, he beat him and…if you take him to the hospital they'll find him and…just…please can't you do anything else? I don't want to lose him…" the man shifted Bartz, who was giggling at something and nodded.
"I have a friend who's a doctor, we can go see her" he finally admitted "I have no idea why though…" he grunted when he felt the blond attach himself to his waist and squeeze him tight, a small 'thank you' was uttered "It's…ok…" the man stuttered himself, not too often was he given gratitude in his line of work, this affectionately anyway.
"Come on" he said as they began to walk away from the apartment building "What are your names?" he asked.
"I'm Bartzy-poo…" the brunet on the elder brunet's shoulder answered with a slur "And that is 'daney-poo…what's your name ?" he asked with a laugh.
"That's Bartz and I'm Zidane…" the blond replied with a small smile "That's what I said!" answered his friend "What's yours?" the blond asked too.
"…Squall" he answered, not as reluctantly as he thought he would.
"Squall" Zidane nodded, grabbing the man's hand and squeezing it, a small smile on his face "Thank you, Squall"
"…Hot name…" Bartz said with a chortle, "Man, I feel like a rock…" he added as he dumped all his weight on Squall.
"He's getting worse…" the man announced, alarming the blond "Shit…way to go Leonhart" he sighed "Don't worry, she'll be able to help" he said in what was hopefully a reassuring tone; Zidane could only nod.
When they got to the first floor and managed to open the creaky door they were greeted by a redhead in a suit "Cissnei, what are you doing here?" Squall asked in a tone that said 'I don't trust you'.
"Hey Squall" she greeted with a smile "Just thought you might need a ride and all" she shrugged, an umbrella covering her from the rain.
"No thanks" he replied, his eyes cold "I don't need help from the Turks" he added, almost spitting out the name.
"Aw, but Squall…" she pouted.
"What about Bartz? He needs help…" Zidane said, tugging at the man's arm. Squall looked down into the blonds' pleading eyes and groaned inwardly.
"Just get in Leonhart…" a voice, possibly even more intimidating than Squall's, to Zidane anyway, was heard. The blond hid behind the tall man and looked toward the black limousine, a pair of green eyes with cat-like irises stared at them "And bring your friends…" Squall snorted and moved toward the vehicle, Cissnei opening the door for them.
When they got settled, Bartz took to Squall's lap, like a cat and promptly fell asleep, which was bad in the blonds' book, while said blond clutched Squall like a lifeline.
"What are the Turks and SOLDIER doing out at this time of the night?" Squall asked the SOLDIER commander who was currently very amused at the sight of the two drenched boys, and the equally drenched and annoyed Squall.
"I talked to your superior, we have a mission for you and it's of great importance" the man said, crossing his right leg on his left regally, not a wrinkle on his crisp black suit and the smirk never leaving his face.
"What's this about Sephiroth?" Squall asked impatiently, the SOLDIER commander chuckled.
"I'll give you the details by phone, they're rather private, and besides, you need to take care of your guests don't you?" he pointed out.
"Right…" the brunet breathed out, a headache forming rather quickly.
"Bartz!" Zidane exclaimed as his friend suddenly abandoned Squall's lap and stared face to face at the SOLDIER commander who was amused and slightly annoyed at the closeness.
"Your eyes…are fucking…glowing…you know that right?" he asked slowly, a big grin forming on his face.
"I…am…fully…aware…" came the cool and collected reply.
"Barz, get off of him, now" Squall ordered.
"…Ok…" the brunet replied, his eyes never leaving the commander's, as if they were having a staring contest; which Bartz decided they were indeed having and promptly kissed the man on the nose, making him blink and blush rather hotly at the same time "I win!" he exclaimed before scurrying back to Squall's lap.
Zidane clamped both hands over his mouth, stifling his laughter, while Bartz contently settled down on the other brunet's lap again, and said brunet had a big smirk on his face at the bemused commander "That just made my night," he commented.
"Yes, well…" the silver-haired man cleared his throat and decided to look out the window, willing the very uncharacteristic blush to go away at the completely unexpected distraction tactic.
"That reminds me…one of the reasons I'm here is to tell you that Zachary and Cloud will be monitoring you for a while…" the man suddenly said, only to be interrupted by the brunet.
"Wait, Cloud? Didn't he quit SOLDIER?" he asked, a little confused.
"Yes…" the man sighed tiredly, "But did you really want Zachary watching over you, alone?" he asked, the serious face that Squall wore was answer enough "Besides, it's a personal favor from Cloud" he added.
"To who, you or me?" he asked with a knowing smirk.
"Who indeed…" came the reply from the silver-haired man.
"We're here, yo" announced another redheaded Turk from the driver's seat "Now grab your kiddies and get out" he said, earning a very loud smack from Cissnei.
"You be careful Squall!" she said to him.
As Squall, Zidane and a knocked out Bartz left the car and stood on the stoop of the brunet's apartment Sephiroth decided to add "Also, I sent an information packet to your apartment, and please…do try to be a gracious host Leonhart, you don't want to fail the mission" he said with a smirk.
"Wait a minute…what did he…oh hell no…" his eyes widened as the car sped away, forgetting the dead weight on his back for a minute.
"Hey, um, Squall…it's kind of freezing out here and we kind of need to get inside and all…" Zidane said, taking Squall out of his reverie.
"Right…" he nodded, fumbling for his keys and opening the door, warmth flooding them quickly "There's no way…right…I mean…what are the chances that these guys…nah, couldn't be…"
As they climbed the stairs he knocked on a door marked 04 and passed it, heading for a door marked 08, allowing Zidane to open it with his keys "It's my universal knock for 'I'm hurt and need medical attention, she'll be here soon" he said reassuringly; the boy nodded.
The apartment was small and simple, just how Squall liked it; the living room was directly in front of the door, a small couch in front of a small television set, a tall drawer next to it. A small kitchen was to the right of it with all the necessities and a kitchen counter/dinner table and stools to the living room side; to their direct right was a small hallway with a door at the end, the bathroom, and to their left was Squall's bedroom.
He led the boys' to his bathroom and set down Bartz on the toilet seat, handing them both towels and telling them to dry off. Squall then walked to the kitchen counter, putting down his keys and gun and opened the manila folder there, his eyes widened at the subject and picture on the first page:
Name: Zidane Tribal
Age: 18
Sex: Male
Height: 5'0
-Of the outmost importance and secrecy- (in bold red ink)
"… What…the hell…?"
A/N: So what did you think? This is sadly the only thing I've written for this, I've been battling a long case of Writer's Block, too much drama in RL, but I managed to crank this out. As for my DN Angel fic fans, I am really sorry! I'm still thinking about it and hope to write the next chapter AT LEAST. As for my KH fic Dowpour...well.......I dunno.
Read and Review or Bartz will sick Boco on you!